


Please Save Me

by MaresThird



Series: You Saved Me [2]
Category: Women's Soccer RPF
Genre: Angst, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/F, Recreational Drug Use, Stalker
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-23
Updated: 2018-01-14
Packaged: 2019-02-18 18:56:54
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 10
Words: 53,733
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13106454
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MaresThird/pseuds/MaresThird
Summary: From the You Saved Me Series. (Yes, it's a series now!) Highly recommend you read that as this work will refer to past events quite often.Our favorite couple react to some incidents that make them think Tobin may have a stalker. But is it a new one or somehow connected to the events of almost two years ago? How will Tobin cope with this? Will she be able to get through this? Will Kate be able to save her?Chapter 1 starts out slow. LOL





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoy.

“How are you feeling, babe?” Tobin asks, her voice low and concerned. 

“Like I’m a phlegm factory,” is Kate’s wry response. 

“Still coughing?” Tobin asks, she’s standing outside the team hotel in Orlando, in a pair of shorts and a v-neck t-shirt, waiting for her teammates to go to dinner. They’ve been here since Tuesday afternoon, practicing and getting acclimated to the time difference so they were ready and rested for tomorrow’s game. 

“No,” Kate replies, her voice nasal, “but I’m still congested and my throat is still a little sore.” Kate had begun to feel lousy last week and ended up with Liz yelling at her about letting her sinus infection and bronchitis get so bad. She didn’t travel with team as part of their security team. 

“I’m sorry,” Tobin murmurs, leaning her head against the wall, “I wish I was there to take care of you.” 

“I know you do, Mavourneen, but you need to do your thing.” Kate says, sniffling. “Anyway, I don’t want you to get sick.” 

“Ah, I don’t get sick,” Tobin declares. 

Kate laughs, “Yeah, right.” 

“I don’t!” Tobin argues. 

“Okay, so what was it back in March when you were lying on the couch whining about how awful you felt?” Kate asks, remembering Tobin being a mess. 

“That was exhausting preseason training and seasonal allergies,” Tobin states firmly, knowing full well she’s busted. 

Kate snorts, “Seasonal allergies,” she mutters but Tobin can hear the laugh in her voice, “you had strep throat.” 

“Oh, it wasn’t so bad,” Tobin demures, thinking of a way to get herself out of this hole she’s dug herself in. 

“Ha!” Kate scoffs, “You whined for four days, you were pathetic.” 

Tobin chuckles, “Yeah,” she leans her against the wall, “I was.” She figures to just admit it. 

“You asked me to call your Mom and have her overnight her soup to you.” Kate declares. 

“Hey, it’s good soup!” Tobin defends herself. 

Kate laughs, “And where does the nightly foot massage fit into you having strep throat?” Kate asks saucily. 

“It distracted me from my sore throat!” Tobin tries to stay strong on her defense but ends up beginning to laugh. Kate laughs with her. 

“I miss you,” Kate says softly.

“I miss you, too,” Tobin says, just as quietly, “We leave Sunday morning and I’ll be back before dinner, which I’ll make.” 

The hotel doors open and Kling and Allie lead the group out, spying Tobin immediately. 

“I told you she’d be out here!” Kling exclaims, elbowing Allie. 

“We miss you, Kate! Feel better!” Emily Sonnet yells as she nears Tobin. 

“I love you more!” Allie, exclaims, making kissing noises, teasing Tobin. 

Kate is laughing. 

“This way,” Sinc directs, pointing down the sidewalk as the group follows. Tobin pushes off the building, slowly trailing behind, still talking to Kate. 

“Are you still on the prescriptions?” She asks her wife. 

“No, I’m down to one for the sinus infection,” Kate replies with a yawn, it’s getting late in Portland, “I really am feeling better,” she says, “I’m not so tired.” 

“Well, please don’t do too much,” Tobin insists, “I can take care of whatever when I get back, okay? I don’t want you to relapse or anything, just rest.” 

“I will asthore,” Kate says, sleep tinging her voice, “I’ll be waiting for my foot massage on Sunday.” 

“Tobin!” Kling yells, turning to face her, “Let’s go!” She’s trailing behind them a bit of distance as she walks slowly. She raises her hand and nods to Kling. 

“I’ll drop my bags, kiss you hello and attack your feet!” Tobin laughs. 

“Deal!” Kate laughs. 

“I love you.” Tobin says softly. 

“I love you, too, Mavourneen.” 

“Have a good night, babe.” Tobin says. 

“Good night,” Kate says ending the call. 

Tobin pockets her phone and breaks into a slow jog. She’s back about four or five shops from the group and only three from the hotel and has just passed the second one when she feels someone firmly grip her arm and pull her into the alley, slamming her against the wall of the building. 

She winces as her head hits the brick wall, snapping back hard into it, blinking back tears. She feels a hand on her shoulder, pressing it into the wall and sees a large Hispanic man standing before her before her, eyes blazing. 

“Money, wallet.” He demands with a thick accent, flashing at knife. 

Tobin looks down at the knife and back up and sees the figure wearing a mask that looks like Allison. She gasps, eyes wide, frozen in place.

“Tobin!” she hears being called out repeatedly, voices getting closer, the figure before her is speaking but she only hears “Murder or suicide,” it in that strange sing song voice she hasn’t thought about in over eighteen months. 

She flinches and feels the hand press her harder against the wall, flicking the knife and feeling the hot burn of the blade against her forearm. 

“Eh! Idiota!” he says gruffy, swinging his hand again, connecting his fist with Tobin’s left eye. He pushes off her, running as her knees give out and she falls to the ground. 

Tobin’s eyes are closed, her left hand over her swelling eye and her right stretched out to the side. She’s breathing rapidly, trying to stop the visions she’s having in her mind from her attack so many months ago back in her apartment. Her head hurts, tears are spilling from her eyes. 

“Tobin!” she hears Kling’s scared voice along with the sound of multiple flip flips slapping on the pavement. 

“She’s bleeding!” 

“Call the cops!” 

“Get Dr. Fisher!” 

“Tobin,” Allie says, placing her hand on her shoulder, “can you sit up?” 

Tobin flinches from the contact and nods when she realizes it’s Allie as she feels pressure on her right forearm, blinking to see Kling wrapping her button down around her arm. 

She’s woozy as she sits, everything is spinning for a few seconds and then clears. 

She’s got her hand to eye still, wincing as the pain intensifies. 

“Did he rob you?” Allie asks, hand still on her. 

Tobin shakes her head slowly, she’s still breathing heavy. 

“Just calm down,” Allie says softly, “try to relax.” 

Tobin’s trying to but she can feel this panic attack barreling down on her. “Can’t breathe,” she pants. 

Allie shifts so she’s in front of her, eyes locked with Tobin. “Breathe with me,” she says, taking a deep breath. Tobin focuses as best she can, trying to match Allie’s inhales and exhales. It’s not working. 

Tobin can hear a commotion going on but is still trying to focus her breathing. Out of the corner of her eye, she sees the reflecting light of either a Police car or an ambulance, making her struggle more, tears falling, feeling helpless.

Allie is softly giving her words of encouragement and praising her, keeping her focused until her breathing shifts from out of control wheezing to heavy panting. 

A cop is standing there, listening to Sinc and explain what happened and giving a description of the man. Dr. Fisher elbows her way through those gathered, relief evident as she sees Tobin sitting and alert. 

“What happened here, Tobin?” she asks, as she unpacks her bag. She’s carefully removing the shirt to look at her arm. 

“Got mugged,” Tobin pants, still feeling winded. 

“Are you hurt anywhere else?” Dr. Fisher asks urgently, looking of her. 

“Just my eye, banged my head a little.” Tobin replies, still not comprehending what happened. 

“Did he hit you?” Allie asks sharply. Tobin nods and Allie squeezes her shoulder. 

Dr. Fisher is wrapping a bandage around on her arm. She digs around her bag, producing her penlight and soon she’s shining it in Tobin’s eyes, running her through a concussion protocol. Emily bursts through the group handing a bag of ice to Tobin that she puts against eye, wincing at the cold. 

Satisfied with her evaluation, she stands up, “Wait here, don’t move.” She instructs and turns to speak with the Police Officer. 

Sinc kneels down opposite of Allie, “You okay?” she asks, her voice full of concern. 

Tobin nods, “Yeah,” she replies, slowly, inhaling deeply and letting it out slowly, “kinda freaked out a little, but alright.” 

Sinc nods and looks over at Allie. She’s trying to hold back tears. 

Tobin gestures with her hand, “Would you take a photo of Kling’s shirt? Get one of the label too?” 

Allie looks at her like she’s crazy. “I want to replace it.” Tobin explains. “I know it’s one of her favorites.” 

Allie nods and spreads the shirt out to get a shot of the pattern and then gets another shot of the label. 

“Thanks,” Tobin says, she looks around, “can I get up?” She’s beginning to feel self-conscious. 

“Not until Doc says so,” Sinc shakes her head. 

Tobin huffs under her breath and sits. She feels the exhaustion creeping over her, slowly grabbing at her limbs, making them feel heavy. She leans her head back on the wall, a dull ache building in her head. 

“Are you going to be sick?” Allie asks quietly. 

“I feel okay right now,” Tobin shrugs, “just a headache and getting super tired.” 

Sinc stands up and whispers into Doc’s ear, who turns around and looks sharply at Tobin. She turns back and speaks to the cop and suddenly he’s in front of Tobin, on one knee, asking her questions. 

She answers him, giving a description, what the guy said, what the knife looked like, as he writes it down. He promises they’ll do everything to find him and then he’s gone. 

Tobin closes her eyes with relief when she feels arms under her, slowly helping her other feet. She walks sluggishly because she’s so tired, keeping her head down, watching her feet making their way back to the hotel. A crowd has gathered around, but the team forms a barrier, surrounding Tobin being held up by Sinc and Allie. 

Soon she’s back in her room she’s sharing with Allie, sitting on the side of the bed, still icing her eye. Allie helps her take her contacts out, putting them in her container and sets her glasses on her right thigh. Dr. Fisher enters and has Tobin lay on the bed with her arm outstretched across a white pad the doctor had brought with her. Sinc is sitting on the bed next to Tobin, Allie left the room with her phone in her hand. 

She breathes deeply, beginning to relax as she feels sudden heat and then cold on her wound, glancing to see Doc squirting a numbing agent of her arm to prepare to stitch her up. She closes her eyes and hears Mark softly ask if she’s okay. She didn’t know he was even in the room. 

“I can play.” Tobin replies, not opening her eyes, “I’ll be good to go.” 

She feels a pat on her shoulder, and Mark tells her to get some rest. 

She can feel the pull and pinch as the stitches are fastened, wondering briefly how large is her wound. 

“All finished,” Doc says as she opens a bandage package, “sixteen stitches.” 

Tobin frowns knowing how upset Kate will be when she talks to her. 

“Tobin, I know you don’t like pills, but I think it might be a good idea for you to take a Valium.” Doc suggests. 

“Can you just leave it? I mean, I’d like to see how my night goes.” Tobin counter offers. “I’ll take it if gets bad.” 

“We need you rested for tomorrow.” Doc reminds her. Tobin nods. 

“I promise I’ll take it if I have a one nightmare and wake up.” She nudges Sinc who’s looking at her phone. “Sinc will tell Allie and Allie will make me. Scouts honor.” 

Doc nods and gives her a small smile. “I’m glad this wasn’t more serious. I’m sorry it happened to you.” She says sincerely and pats her leg as she gets up from kneeling next to the bed. She’s packing her bag up. “You should eat something.” 

Tobin nods, lifting her head, “I will, my stomach is a little jumpy right now though.” 

“Okay, you call me if you need anything. Take these Tylenol now though, okay? And keep icing your eye.” She says leaving the capsules on the nightstand. The Valium is a little further over. 

“I will,” Tobin says, removing the ice bag from her eye and slowly sitting up. “I need to call Kate.” 

 

When Allie left the room she was dialing Kate. She felt bad because she knows Kate is sick and it’s late in Portland, but she’d feel even worse if she didn’t call. 

“Allie?” Kate’s voice fills her ear, her tone sleepy and apprehensive. 

“Hey Kate, sorry to call so late, but I needed to talk to you.” Allie begins. 

“What happened to Tobin?” Kate asks, fear now replacing the apprehension. As soon as she saw Allie’s name, she knew something was wrong. Her gut told her. 

“She’s fine, now,” Allie soothes, “but she got mugged on the way to dinner.” 

Kate gasps, “Is she okay? What happened?” Kate’s mind is racing, thinking of all the possibilities. She struggles to sit up, flick on the lamp and lean back against the headboard. 

Now fully awake, Kate listens carefully to Allie explain the incident. 

“So, it wasn’t like, a full blown panic attack, she worked really hard to control it. It lasted long enough to exhaust her, though.” Allie states. “She’s in our room now, getting stitched up. Doc checked her out, no concussion just a black eye and some stitches.” 

Relief pours over Kate as she comprehends just how lucky Tobin was. “She’s getting stitched up in the room?” 

“Yeah, Doc didn’t want to drag to her to the ER and Tobin didn’t want to go.” Allie replies. 

Kate lets out a deep sigh, “How do you think she’s doing?” 

“I know she’s super tired now, but I think she’s doing okay. We’ll see what kind of night she has.” Allie says, hoping Tobin doesn’t have a nightmare plagued evening. “Sinc and I were thinking of letting her nap for a bit and then getting her something to eat.” 

“PB & J.” Kate says instantly, knowing that’s her go to food when she’s upset and her stomach is jumpy.

“Perfect, I’ll get it from the equipment room, we bring it with us.” Allie says, nodding to herself. 

“Good,” Kate says, “thanks for letting me know.” 

“She’s probably call you soon,” Allie replies, knowing Tobin will. Kate’s phone beeps out with an incoming FaceTime call. Tobin. 

“That’s her now,” Kate says glancing at her phone, “thanks so much Allie, I’ll talk to you soon.” 

They hang up and Allie sees Sinc leaving the room to give Tobin some privacy. Sinc ordered the other players huddled in the hallway to go dinner, figuring her and Allie would just do room service and keep and eye on Tobin. 

 

“Asthore, I was just talking to Allie,” Kate answers to her call, “how are you?” she’s looking at her critically. Noting the swollen eye, pale face and her tired appearance. 

“Okay, now that I’m talking to you,” Tobin says, giving her a sleepy smile. She’s lying in bed with a pillow propping her phone up. Her glasses are off and the room is dim. 

“How are you feeling?” Kate asks her tenderly. 

“I’m still a little jumpy, but I’m super tired,” say replies with a yawn, “I kind of froze when it happened, he was talking and I saw the knife and I froze. Then when I looked up, I saw Allison. It freaked me out but only, like, a split second.” 

“Mavourneen, I’m so sorry it happened and I wasn’t there,” Kate says, beginning to tear up, “I just want to hold you right now,”

“I want you too,” Tobin says as the tears come, “I was so scared.” 

“You’re safe now,” Kate comforts her, “you should sleep and then eat a little something later.” 

Tobin nods as she wipes her eyes, wincing around her left one. “Doc left a Valium for me,” she says, glancing at her nightstand, “I told her I’d take it if I had any nightmares.” 

Kate nods, “That’s a good idea,” Kate encourages, “maybe you should just take it after you eat. You have a late game tomorrow, you can sleep in.” 

“Yeah, maybe I will,” Tobin yawns again, “will you stay with me until I fall asleep?” her voice sounding so quiet, so small. 

“Of course,” Kate smiles at her. 

“Will you sing me something?” Tobin asks and Kate can see the fear still in her eyes. 

“Close your eyes my love,” Kate instructs, “get comfy and warm.” She watches her shift and then settle. Kate moves down into her bed, switching off the lamp and settling in. She begins to softly sing ‘Be Not Afraid’ even though her she’s still congested and sounds nasally and her voice is rough and she smiles when she sees Tobin sigh and smile. She doesn’t finish the song before Tobin is gone, sleeping, her mouth slightly open and tilting to one side. 

Kate yawns and watches her sleep until her eyes become too heavy and she drifts off as well. 

 

 

Allie keys the door quietly and slowly opens it, Sinc trailing behind her as they enter the room. They find Tobin on the bed, snuggled under the covers, her phone propped on her chest with a pillow as she sleeps. Allie lifts it off gently, seeing Kate sleeping as well and ends the call. She plugs the phone into the charger and sits down on Tobin’s side of the bed. 

“Tobin,” she softly calls out, not wanting to startle her. “Time to wake up,” she says. 

Tobin shifts, noises coming from her throat, and sleepily blinks at her in the dim room. 

“We brought you something to eat,” Sinc says, showing her the PB & J on a plate. 

“Thanks guys,” Tobin replies, giving them a sleepy smile, “you didn’t have to that, I would have made one later,” she moves the pillow off her chest and slowly sits up and leans against the headboard. She shivers when her bare arms meet the cool air in the room. Sinc tosses her a sweatshirt from her suitcase and Tobin puts it on. 

“Room service should be here any minute,” Allie says, “we thought we’d hang with you.” 

Tobin nods as she takes a bite of the sandwich, crossing her legs under the comforter. 

Sinc grabs the TV remote and finds a soccer match to watch as they talk quietly. 

After she finishes her sandwich, she gets up and heads to the bathroom, brushing her teeth and getting ready for bed. She changes her clothes just before Allie opens the door for Room Service and then settles back in the bed. She reaches over and takes the Valium. 

Sinc and Allie look at her. 

“Kate thought it would be a good idea,” Tobin mumbles, “I want to play tomorrow.” She sighs a minute, looking at them as they begin eating. “Thanks guys,” she says, trying to dispel the feelings of being helpless again while reliving the events that took place nearly two years ago.

“It could have happened to anyone,” Sinc says, looking at her warmly, “they said it was random,” 

“Yeah,” Tobin says as she nods at them and snuggles under the comforter again, offering comments about the game as she grows steadily more tired. She shuts her eyes and is out. 

 

When Allie awakes the next morning, she looks over at the other bed and sees Tobin still sleeping peacefully. Happy that Tobin had a nightmare free night, Allie leaves her bed to take a shower. 

 

The game brutal. Kate watches as Tobin gets fouled, yet again, as the Orlando player gets all ankle and no ball. She’s holding her breath watching as lays curled on the pitch, holding her foot, waiting a minute before kneeling and slowly returning to her feet. 

There are more red Thorns jerseys on the ground before half time hits and Kate wonders if Tobin will start the second half. She’s relieved when she sees her jog out, looking fine and getting ready to play. The Thorns are up by two and Kate’s seen enough soccer by now to know they will continue to be aggressive until the final whistle. 

At one point, Tobin and Alex collide, both going to the turf with Tobin popping up first and extending a hand to Alex and helping her get up. 

“Oh, no,” Kate gasps watching as Tobin is writhing on the ground, holding her right arm, gripping her wrapped up wound. She was chasing the ball, sandwiched between two Pride women, hustling to get past them when she got tripped up. In her fall, her extended arm got stepped on unintentionally by the trailing Pride player causing Tobin to yelp in pain and curl up in a ball. 

When the whistle blew, the woman was instantly at Tobin’s side, hand on her shoulder, making sure she was okay. Honestly, she looks horrified that it happened, but Tobin gives her a flash of a smile and says something to her and they punch knuckles. It took a minute, Tobin waving off assistance, and slowly getting to her feet and shaking her hand to take the free kick. 

The game ends with both sides exhausted, the announcers declaring it was the most exciting game of the season to this point. The Thorns had won by a 2 to 1 margin with Alex scoring the Pride’s only goal. Kate watches as the female commentator was reviewing the game, seeing Tobin, in the background, getting wrapped in a hug by Ashlyn Harris, with Alex and Ali Krieger surrounding her. 

Kate smiles, thinking how Tobin has so many good friends that care about her, watching as she hugs Ali and then Alex, before moving off the screen. The coverage ends and she flicks off the TV. 

Kate waits patiently for Tobin to call or FaceTime after her match, knowing she might be pulled in for media and signing some autographs before hitting the showers and getting on the bus back to the hotel. 

It’s almost two hours later when her phone lights up, indicating Tobin’s FaceTime call. 

“Hey, babe,” Tobin greets, smiling at her. Her hair is still wet from her shower and Kate thinks this is the most beautiful version of her. So simple, so authentic, just out of the shower gorgeous. 

“Mavourneen, did you make it through that battle intact?” Kate asks, returning a smile to her. 

“Oh yeah,” Tobin demures, not wanting to discuss her injuries, knowing Kate would worry. 

“How’s your arm?” Kate presses. 

Tobin sighs, looking down briefly at her bandaged limb, “Uh, opened up some of the stitches but good as new now,” she sighs, flopping back onto her hotel bed. 

“It was a really exciting, I’m proud of you,” Kate says, carefully looking at Tobin’s eye to see if she took any hits to it. 

“Yeah, it was pretty intense, they’re really tough.” Tobin admits. 

“What’s your plan for the evening?” Kate asks, leaning back on the couch. 

“Dinner, then sleep.” Tobin shrugs. “We’re up early for our flight tomorrow so we won’t be staying out or anything.” 

Kate nods. “How are Ashlyn and Ali?” 

Tobin grins, “Great! Ash said they’re thinking about getting a dog!”

“That’s awesome, they’ll love it!” Kate enthuses, having met the two before her and Tobin’s wedding and slowly growing a nice friendship with them. She likes them a lot. 

“Hey Kate!” Allie calls as she exits the bathroom, “How are you feeling?” She asks as she grabs the phone from Tobin.

“Much better,” Kate answers, “I think I turned the corner, still snotty but not feeling so dead.” 

“Bati has it,” Allie frowns, “it’s going around.” 

“Oh no!” Kate exclaims, not wishing the illness on anyone. “He doing okay?” 

Allie snorts, “He’s as bad as Tobin is when he’s sick!” 

“Hey!” Kate hears Tobin exclaim, the video feed going blurry as she struggles to get her phone back from Allie. 

Kate giggles as she sees Tobin glaring off camera at Allie. 

She watches as Tobin’s face softens when she looks at Kate. 

“I’ll see you in less than twelve hours,” Tobin smiles, looking at Kate intently. 

“Have a good night,” Kate says, “I love you, be careful.” 

“I love you, too, babe, goodnight.” Tobin replies, ending the call. 

 

 

Tobin enters the house quietly, punching in the security code to turn off the alarm as Samson sits next to her leg, butt wiggling, waiting for some loving. She bends down to greet him, stroking his thick fur as he smothers her with kisses, dragging his tongue across her face. 

“Easy, Sammy,” she says softly, seeing Kate stretched out on the couch, sleeping. She gets up and makes her way to the couch, kneeling down to face Kate. She sees her irritated nostrils, red from blowing her nose, her lips a bit chapped and she’s still a little pale. Not as awful as she was before Tobin left on Tuesday, but clearly not completely over her illness. 

It’s around two thirty, so Tobin decides to let her sleep longer and gets up, grabs her bags and moves to the bedroom. Samson follows her, happy to have a human awake to keep him company. Tobin unpacks, gets a load of laundry started and strips the bedsheets, intending to throw them in as the next load. She chatters to Samson, asking him how his day was, Samson appearing to answer her with sighs and soft talking which is a mix between a whine and a bark. 

She surveys the bedroom, sighing when she realizes that it’s clean and there’s not much other laundry to do. Of course, Kate wouldn’t let the place get messy, even if she’s sick. Her stubborn Irish nature wouldn’t allow it. 

Tobin does clean the bathroom, the shower, the toilet the sinks and counters. Then she gets inspired and goes through the house, wiping everything down with the Clorox wipes. Doorknobs, the counters, the fridge handle, all the places you’d touch. It’s not that she’s a crazy germaphobe or something, but she really doesn’t want to get sick.

She switches out the load from the washing machine, throws her clothes in the dryer and heads to the kitchen. Grilled cheese is Kate’s go to comfort food when she’s sick so Tobin quietly goes through the fridge, pulling out cheese and finding the bread in the pantry. She pulls out a Live Oak beer for herself as she begins to cook, thinking Kate might be hungry when she wakes. 

“Asthore?” Kate calls out sleepily. 

“Hey, babe,” Tobin greets her, sliding a sandwich onto a plate, “how are you feeling?”

“Much better, now that you’re home.” Kate replies, slowly sitting up. “Whatcha making?” 

“Grilled cheese, want one?” Tobin offers as she’s walking toward her with a plate in hand. 

“Oh, thank you!” Kate exclaims, leaning forward to kiss Tobin’s cheek, “This is wonderful!” she says as she accepts the plate. 

Tobin heads back to the kitchen to make her own sandwich, “Want something to drink?” 

“A Gatorade or water would be fine,” Kate says as she takes a bite, humming as she chews, “so good.” She says quietly. 

Minutes later, Tobin site down next to her, handing her the bottle of water and clinking it with her beer. They eat quietly, watching a baseball game. When they finish, Tobin takes the plates and places them in the dishwasher and cleans the pan quickly, leaving it out o the stove for breakfast tomorrow. 

“Massage time?” she asks as she approaches the couch, wiggling her fingers at Kate. Kate smiles and slides over to lay back down, legs bent until Tobin sits and she lays them on her lap. Tobin starts rubbing her feet gently. 

Kate sighs at how good it feels, relaxing back into the couch cushions, the tension and worry over Tobin leaving her slowly. 

“How’s the ankle? That look it like hurt.” Kate inquires. She wants to skirt around what happened in Orlando until Tobin is ready to talk about it. 

Tobin nods, “It hurt bad for a minute, but it’s okay.” She replies, “A little bruised on the outside, nothing serious.” She continues to knead the bottoms of Kate’s sock clad feet. 

“That feels so good, asthore,” Kate says, “and the eye?” 

Tobin looks at her with a smile, “It didn’t swell shut,” she switches to Kate’s other foot, “and at least I didn’t get a tooth knocked out.” 

“You were so lucky, mavourneen,” Kate says, rubbing Tobin’s stomach with the foot Tobin didn’t have her hands on. 

Tobin nods, a serious look on her face, she focuses on looking at Kate’s foot as she rubs it, “I know,” she says quietly. 

They’re silent as Tobin works on Kate’s foot. 

“I was so scared,” Tobin says, her voice almost a whisper. Kate pulls her legs back, sits up and moves next to her, sliding an arm around her shoulders. Tobin leans into her, “it was like it happened all over again.” She says, tears beginning to come.

Tobin snuggles closer, Kate bringing her other arm around, holding her tightly as Tobin weeps softly. “I felt so helpless,” Tobin shudders at the memory, “I was frozen, I couldn’t move, react, just seeing him in that Allison mask chasing me around my apartment.”

Tobin wipes under her nose violently with the back of her hand and Kate hands her a napkin from their meal to wipe her hand. “Mavourneen, it was a shock to you,” Kate says tenderly, “you never had a chance to prepare yourself. Allie told me it happened so fast, you couldn’t have reacted and not get triggered by what that man did.” 

Tobin nods as she wipes her eyes, looking up at her. She looks so scared, Kate thinks to herself. “Allie told me how hard you worked after,” Kate says, bringing her hand to Tobin’s jaw and lovingly holding her head. Tobin leans into her hand, closing her eyes at the touch. “She said you didn’t have a full blown panic attack, you didn’t need the paramedics or Dr. Fisher to give you oxygen. You didn’t throw up after. You didn’t have any nightmares making you cry or yell that night.” 

Tobin nods her head slightly, calming down and sighing. 

“You did so good, asthore,” Kate says, kissing her forehead, “all your hard work with Jen shows it. Even after all this time, you did so good. I’m so proud of you.” 

Tobin pulls back to look into Kate’s eyes. “You don’t think this is the start of something, do you?” her voice is strong but her eyes dance with nerves, betraying her feelings. 

“Not at all,” Kate says confidently, “I think it was a just an incident in a tourist area. Totally random.” 

“Full disclosure?” Tobin asks, a hint of a smile on her lips. 

Kate nods and smiles at her, “Full disclosure.” She says firmly. 

Tobin leans forward and kisses her cheek, knowing Kate doesn’t want to spread her germs. “Okay,” Tobin says as she lays her head on Kate’s shoulder, “okay.” she repeats softly, as if convincing herself to stop thinking something worse could be coming her way and this was just a one time random incident.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tobin receives a couple of strange notes at Providence Park leading Kate and John to consider she may have a stalker.

“Tobin Powell Doyle Heath!” Perry’s voice echoes in the bathroom. “What the fuck happened?” 

Tobin is sitting in the bathtub, giving herself an ice bath for recovery later that night. She had done her stretches and fulfilled her protocol, this was her final step. 

“Per” Tobin starts.

“No!” Perry says angrily, Tobin can almost see the steam coming out of her ears on her screen, “I got a text from a friend that you got attacked in Orlando? What the fuck!” 

Kate can hear this exchange from the bedroom where she is lying in bed reading. She slaps her head with her hand, cringing that she didn’t check with Tobin if she called her family or call Perry herself. She hears Tobin apologizing, telling her what happened and how she didn’t call anyone except Kate and she needed to keep her focus on the game and didn’t think it was that serious. 

She hears Tobin getting out of the tub, still talking to Perry but taking her off the speaker, answering all of her questions. Her eyes open wide when she hears Tobin respond to one of her questions. 

“She’s sick. She has bronchitis and a sinus infection, okay? She didn’t travel with us.” There’s an edge to her voice, her frustration level rising. There’s a pause and then she can’t make out what Perry is saying. 

“It’s okay,” Tobin replies, her voice much softer, “I didn’t mean to make you worry. I’m sorry.” 

Perry is talking again, and Kate can hear Tobin moving around the bathroom, “I will.” Tobin replies. 

“I will,” she repeats, a firmer, “I love you too. Okay, bye.” 

Kate hears Tobin sigh deeply, then water running, she’s brushing her teeth. She comes out soon after, her glasses on, legs still red and comes to the bed. She slides in next to Kate, and yawns. 

“Tobin!” Kate exclaims as Tobin drapes an icy cold leg on her, “Get those ice logs off me!” 

“But I’m cold!” Tobin whines, rubbing her leg against Kate. 

“You should have taken a shower,” Kate advises, “off!” Kate moves her legs away. 

Tobin sits up and massages her legs over the blankets, trying to warm them up. 

Kate eyes her, “Everything okay?” 

“Perry was upset I didn’t call her.” Tobin admits. She’s moving her legs under the blankets, creating friction to warm them. 

“I’m sorry, I didn’t think to call her or your Mom,” Kate says with a sigh. 

Tobin looks at her sharply, “This isn’t on you, it’s on me,” she says firmly, “it’s my fault.” She flops back in the bed and lays on her side, facing away from Kate.   
Kate wonders about her mood change, when Tobin suddenly gets out of bed and begins to leave the room. 

“Where are you going?” Kate asks anxiously. 

“I forgot to check the house,” Tobin says quietly as she exits the room. 

It’s then that Kate realizes Tobin is more upset about this than she’s been playing off. Checking the house was almost an obsession with Tobin after the events with Allison and Tony. It got so bad, that after being accidentally locked out multiple times, Kate had door locks installed with key pads so you wouldn’t need a key to enter. Just punch the code and enter. 

Lately, Tobin makes sure the alarm is set before bedtime, not roaming the house checking every door and window, sometimes multiple times during the evening. Kate chastises herself for not being perceptive enough on how the Orlando incident would affect Tobin. 

Tobin returns after five minutes, leading Kate to believe that she was not only checking the doors but also all of the windows again. Tobin slides into bed, turning off the light, staying in her side, away from Kate, back turned. 

“Mavourneen,” Kate says as she reaches her hand out to touch Tobin’s hair, “come here.” 

“My legs are cold,” Tobin replies, rejection in her voice. 

Kate slides under the covers next to her, wrapping a leg over her, holding her in her arms. She feels Tobin’s shoulder relax a little. 

“I’m sorry,” Tobin says quietly, voice uneven, threatening to cry. 

“I’ve got you,” Kate soothes, running her hand over Tobin’s arm, “sleep.” Tobin’s breath hitches and a soft sob escapes her throat, Kate feeling Tobin’s uneven breathing as she cries softly in the dark room. 

Kate tightens her grip, moving even closer to hold her, finding her hand in the dark and taking it in hers. Tobin squeezes it, holding on tightly, silently crying in the dark.   
Kate holds her as she feels Tobin’s legs warm, holds her as she feels Tobin’s breathing return to normal, holds her as she realizes the tight grip on her hand has loosened, holds her as she feels herself give in to sleep. 

 

Kate awakes to voices talking. Someone is upset and stuttering badly, Kate can’t understand what she’s saying. She’s so tired, she can’t open her eyes, but the person keeps mumbling, tripping over her own words, unable to speak to properly. 

Kate briefly wonders what Tobin could be watching on TV, then she sleepily realizes they don’t have a TV in the bedroom. She feels a flinch and shudder next to her, her legs being kicked at. She blinks rapidly and in the moonlight filtering through the skylights, she can make out Tobin moving, squirming next to her, clearly having a nightmare. 

“Tobin,” Kate calls out, moving her hand onto to her shoulder, rubbing it. “Wake up,” she urges. 

“Bl-bl-blee-blee-bleed-bleeding” Tobin stutters, shifting so she’s on her back, holding her right arm over the covers. 

“You’re okay, you’re not bleeding anymore. It’s over, you’re fine.” Kate says softly, leaning to speak into her ear. 

“Na-na-na-knife!” Tobin struggles, bringing her arm to her chest, holding it tightly. 

Kate shoves Tobin’s shoulder roughly, “Wake up!” she says loudly. 

Tobin’s eyes pop open, blinking rapidly, her chest heaving with rapid breathing. 

“You were dreaming,” Kate speaks, her voice low and comforting, “you were having a nightmare.” 

Tobin is still gripping her arm, breathing heavy, turning her head to look at Kate. 

“D-d-d-did I-I-I- hurt you?” Tobin asks, her voice fearful. 

“No mavourneen,” Kate says, leaning to stroke away the sweaty hairs framing Tobin’s face, “you didn’t. You were just talking.” 

Tobin lets out a deep breath and looks at her, “I-I-I’m sorry I w-w-w-woke you,” 

“Nonsense,” Kate says, giving her a smile in the dim light, “I’m sorry I didn’t wake up sooner,” 

“You’re- youre sick, you need to sl-sl-sle-sleep,” Tobin states, her voice tinged with sadness and regret that she woke her. 

“We both do,” Kate says giving her a kiss on the cheek, “what do you need?” 

“You,” Tobin answers, circling her arms Kate, kissing her neck. “Kiss me,” she husks, trying to meet her lips. 

Kate pulls away, “I’m not kissing you, I don’t want you to get sick.” But she dips her head down and brings her lips to Tobin’s neck, sucking on her soft flesh. Her hand finds one of Tobin’s breasts, Kate grips it, massaging it as she brings her left leg in between Tobin’s spread ones, rocking gently into her. Tobin’s hips snap to meet to her leg, moaning at the sensation. 

Kate leans forward and pulls up Tobin’s shirt, not removing it, just uncovering her chest, dipping her head low to swirl her tongue around Tobin’s hardening nipple. She feels Tobin’s back arch, straining for more.

Kate circles Tobin’s breast with her fingers. Pinching and alternating sucking hard on it. She slides her free hand down under Tobin’s shorts, making Tobin gasp as she runs two fingers through her. Tobin’s wet for her and needy, moaning as Kate easily slides two fingers into her, quickly pumping them in and out of her. 

“Oooohhh,” Tobin moans languidly, her breathing coming in fast breaths that Kate can feel on her neck. Kate bites at Tobin’s collarbone, licking and sucking on it, before moving again to attack her breast, suckling on it, pulling at the nipple with her teeth. 

Tobin is moaning with Kate’s thrusting fingers, her legs spread, hips riding to meet those fingers. 

“Oh, babe,” she cries, raising her hands to grasp the headboard, fingers tightly curled around the metal. 

Tobin comes undone, legs shaking slightly, sweat on her forehead, crying out with pleasure. Kate slows her movements through the orgasm, feeling Tobin’s body softening from the reaction of her touch. But Kate’s not finished, sliding lower to drag her tongue over Tobin’s stomach, feeling those muscular ridges, one hand gripping her waistband pulling the shorts down around her thighs. 

Tobin’s panting still, reveling in the feeling as Kate’s tongue touches her clit, sending her hips off the bed, making her cry out. 

“Babe!” she exclaims, as Kate takes her clit into her mouth, sucking on it, swirling her tongue around, making Tobin moan uncontrollably. “Fuck!” she exclaims as her body is racing towards the next release, her hips grinding on Kate’s tongue, feeling the tingling sensation again coming from her toes and spreading rapidly. 

Kate sees Tobin’s furrowed brow, eyes tightly shut, mouth hanging open as the moans keep coming from her mouth. When Tobin’s hips snap and rise, her body clenching, Kate swirls and sucks on her clit, making Tobin cry out a loud, prolonged deep groan as her orgasm washes over her. 

She collapses back to the mattress, Kate slowly bringing Tobin’s shorts up around her waist as she settles onto her chest, feeling the heavy breathing. She kisses her jaw tenderly, bringing a hand to wipe away the sweaty hairs from Tobin’s face. 

Kate settles next to her, head on her Tobin’s shoulder, fingers tracing patterns on her stomach. Tobin lets out a shaky breath, turning her face to kiss the top of Kate’s head.

Kate drops her hand on Tobin’s chest, placing it on her sternum, feeling her breathing slowing as she slips to sleep. Kate lays there, worried, wondering just how badly this attack affected her. Tobin’s been doing fine for long time now, her PTSD issues seemingly well controlled, though she still has her quirks. 

Tobin has trouble at restaurants if she’s not against a wall, feeling too exposed. Same thing for bars and other events. She powers through watching live soccer matches and baseball games, feeling uncomfortable in large crowds but works to control it. 

When they’ve gone to street fests, she can last for a few hours until she begins feeling overwhelmed and needs to leave. They’ve been working on finding a quieter place at fests so she can regroup and then face the crowds again. 

Fans still leave her anxious, the controlled meet and greets are usually fine but when she’s in public, it makes her nervous. Quick photos and an autograph are fine, but groups of people tend to make her jumpy and nervous, wanting to flee. 

Tobin prefers to smoke some weed before going out, not liking to take medication for her nerves. She likes to chill and when Kate gets home sometimes and finds her pretty stoned, she knows she’s had a rough day. She still occasionally meets with Jen to work on her triggers, like a refresher. She wonders if she’ll call her this week to meet up. 

Kate sighs, letting sleep come, moving her hand from Tobin’s sternum to lightly hold her breast. She drifts off knowing she’ll have to watch Tobin carefully, watching to see just how much she’s struggling with this. 

 

Her doubts are less the next morning as Tobin brings her breakfast in bed with a genuine smile. They sit against the headboard, sipping coffee and eating oatmeal and fruit as they quietly talk about what happened. 

Tobin isn’t as emotional about it, telling Kate her feelings about it and how she thinks she handled it. She admits it was a shock and she was tired yesterday, letting her imagination run a little, letting in the dark thoughts of another stalker issue enter her mind. 

Tobin leaves Kate to go to the park and do some light conditioning, she’s not allowed to lift weights due to her stitches so she’s doing cardio mostly. Kate works from home for a few hours, napping for a few hours, still not feeling quite one hundred percent yet. 

It’s not until Wednesday that Kate’s back at Providence Park, meeting with John to discuss their increasing concern about player safety. They’ve had a couple of close calls of fans entering the pitch after games, lucky for them, the individuals were stopped by their diligent security staff. But they know, if someone is serious about accomplishing something, they will do their best to find a way to make it happen. So, they discuss the counter actions they can take to eliminate threats before they can occur and be prepared for multiple scenarios. 

Kate feels much better, her cough under control, the sinus infection nearly gone, the chance of her spreading germs low. The Thorns are serious about staff being sick and not being around players, not wanting the team to get sick. She respects how they handle it, not wanting to be around sick people either. 

Their evening together is lazy, the heat sapping Tobin’s energy from a hard practice. Kate notes that Tobin seems fine, she’s not jumpy or unusually anxious, putting last week’s incident behind her. Kate does notice that the pantry is unusually organized again, the labels on boxes and cans all facing out. It was one of Tobin’s OCD quirks from a while ago, but it’s since faded. It alarms her to see it back. They have a large salad with cold chicken for dinner, neither wanting to cook and feeling something light would be good. 

Kate doesn’t let Tobin kiss her on the lips again, making her frustrated but knowing it’s for her own good. Kate doesn’t want to chance the small possibility she would get her sick. Tobin grumpily agrees, knowing Kate is right but wanting to kiss her wife. 

 

On Friday, John drops a plastic bag and a set of latex gloves on Kate’s desk. His face is troubled. 

“It’s been a weird week,” he says quietly, gesturing to the fan mail that has been sorted for review. The pile he brought to Kate are the ones that are exceptionally strange. 

Last season, most of the notes that were pulled were ones stating their hatred for Kate, claiming Talex was real and Tobin should be with Alex Morgan. Fortunately, most of those notes had return labels on them, the Thorns staff researching those to find they came from misled preteens. 

Allie Long gets her fair share of weird notes, with staff having to refer to her Twitter and Instagram accounts to realize most of the strange writings to her are referencing her comments and posts from social media. Those are harmless. 

As Kate slides on the gloves, she finds most of these are weird, but just stand alone weird. One piques her curiosity and it’s addressed to Tobin. It’s a postcard of downtown Miami and postmarked from there a few days ago. 

It simply says ‘Idiota.’ 

Kate feels her gut tighten and she looks up at John who nods at her. “Not too many people know that’s what he said to her, right?” he asks. Kate nods. 

“So, maybe that wasn’t just a random act of robbery?” he asks cautiously. He realizes he’s not just talking to another security member, he’s speaking to Tobin’s wife. She nods slowly, growing a little pale. 

“Okay, so, let’s call PPB and get it dusted for fingerprints and go from there?” he suggests. 

Kate sighs and nods again as she slides the postcard into its own plastic bag. “Maybe we should keep this quiet until we know something?” she asks, looking up at him. “I don’t want to freak her out.” She gets up and makes a photocopy of the front and back for her files.

John nods, “I think that’s fine. It could be nothing.” He shrugs. “Let’s not make this bigger than what it is right now.” He sits on the edge of the desk. “Did you hear we had to talk to the Riveters last week?” 

Kate looks up, her eyes wide. “What happened?” 

John smirks, “One of them puked on Sinc’s boots after the last home match.” 

“No!” Kate exclaims. 

“Sinc almost puked on him,” he smiles, “we asked them to tone down their drinking a little or we’d have to limit fan interaction.”

“Poor Sinc!” Kate says, shaking her head. “What else did I miss?” 

“Nothing much,” he says, standing up and taking the plastic bag with the postcard in it. “Glad you’re feeling better, we missed you.” 

“Thanks,” Kate smiles, standing up, “you going to drop that off?” 

John nods, “On my way home, you heading out?” Kate nods, “See you tomorrow.” 

“Game day!” he sings out as he leaves the room. 

Kate looks at her watch, knowing the team is still in their film session. Her and Tobin drove separately, Kate would be home Tobin. After their film session, they would have a team dinner and then be released. 

Kate enters the notes into her spreadsheet. She has it set up with a tab for each of the players and the coaches, making notes of the date each note was received, any sender information and the content. It’s an easy way to discover trends of stalkers or consistent senders that they should be aware of. She files the originals in individual plastic sleeves in the filing cabinet, again organized by players and coaches for easy accessing.

Kate nods to the security team waiting around the player and staff parking lot, making sure everything is under control. 

When she gets home, she sits on the deck while Samson runs around the yard, getting his energy out, chasing a butterflies and lightening bugs. She scrolls through her phone, checking emails and texting Liz and Jen confirming they were on for dinner Sunday. 

She calls Jake and chats with him before he gets too busy at the bar on a Friday night. Him and Cath are doing good, he’d been checking in and dropping off soup while Tobin was out of town and she was listless and sick. 

She’s growing hungry, something she hasn’t been for over a week so when she ends her call with Jake, she heads in the house, looking for something to eat. She heats up some leftovers from Cath, a pasta dish with chicken that she loves. 

Sitting down to eat, she flicks on the TV scrolling to find something to watch. Headlights illuminate her driveway and she suddenly remembers the band was coming over to practice for a while tonight. She hears Samson barking in greeting as Liz gets out of her car, ambling over to the deck, where Kate meets her at the door. 

“You forgot,” Liz says as a greeting, just seeing the look in Kate’s face. 

“Yeah,” Kate shakes her head. “I’m not with it just yet.” 

“That’s okay,” Liz gives her a hug, “I know you’re not over it yet.” 

They hear the big doors rumble open, Fred carrying in his guitar and a few others straggling in behind him. Kate must have a look in her face because she feels Liz touch her arm. 

“It’s just the band tonight,” Liz says quietly, “Just practice for few hours and we’re out. No hard partying.” 

“Oh, that’s fine,” Kate demures, “I know you’ll lock up.” 

“No singing for you tonight, one set on piano and guitar and you’re out.” Liz narrows her eyes at Kate. “Doctor’s orders.” 

“Yeah, it’s probably a good idea.” Kate agrees, still feeling tired, and her throat still scratchy. 

 

Kate’s walking back to the house with Samson when Tobin’s car pulls up. She slowly gets out, slinging her bag over her shoulder and walking to meet her. 

“Hi,” Kate greets, kissing her deeply.

“Hi,” Tobin replies with a smile, happy for the kiss, so happy, she leans in for another.

“Jam night?” Tobin asks, tilting her head towards the barn.

Kate shakes her head, “Just practice, I did one set, I’m done.” She replies. Kate puts her arm around Tobin as they slowly walk to the back deck, music floating from the barn. They exchange how their day went, both tired and wanting to veg out for a bit before going to bed early. 

Tobin locks up the house while Kate is getting ready for bed, meeting up as Kate leaves the bathroom and Tobin heads in. 

Kate is reading a book about security plans as Tobin slides into bed, snuggling next to her, foregoing her typical nightly journaling. She must be really tired, Kate thinks. 

“Tired?” Kate murmurs. 

Tobin yawns as a reply, “Uh huh,” she says sleepily. “It’s so hot out, it just sucks the energy out of me.” 

 

 

Saturday comes with Tobin and Kate driving together to the stadium, kissing each other as they separate to prepare for the game. 

Kate meets John and they review the game day plan as staff starts trickling in, Samson looking important in his bright yellow security vest. Samson’s been a Godsend to the staff, he’s a great ambassador, and a great deterrent to fans coming on the field. 

John asked the PPB if they could bring a few of their dogs to the game, having them typically placed in each corner. Kate and Samson, of course, position themselves on the side Tobin is playing on. Tobin had made a comment to Kate about how it keeps her calm, knowing they’re there, and helping her stay focused on the game and not the fans. 

Slowly, other stadiums are adopting the Thorns policies, with Kate and John doing video conferences with staff across the league explaining their plans and how they implement them. The NWSL staff is grateful for their willingness to share the information, and doing it for free to improve the safety of the players league wide. 

Last off season, Kate and John hosted a two day conference for NWSL Security staff held at Providence Park. The NWSL and Players’ Association both chipped in to make it affordable for the representatives to attend. John has wonderful contacts with other professional teams on other sports and talks to them about their security plans and takes from them they think would work for them at Providence Park. 

Things have been going smoothly, John and Kate being grateful that the Thorns fans are passionate about their team and most games are held without incident. 

That’s how today goes, the crowd is festive, loud and cheerful, especially after the victory against the Seattle Reign. Kate watches as the fans filter out, the players having just left the sidelines, signing autographs and taking photos. 

She keeps her eye on Tobin, who’s smiling as she leaves the field with Allie and Emily, talking about the game. Kate’s so grateful how Tobin’s teammates instinctually keep an eye out for her. After everything that happened almost two years ago, the Thorns have unconsciously created a safety bubble around Tobin, reading her body language, sensing when she’s uncomfortable and helping her out. The three hit the tunnel and Kate watches as the rest of the team follows, staff carrying in coolers and bags of training gear. 

Soon it’s just Kate and the other security staff, forming a perimeter around the field, watching as the remaining fans trickle out of the stadium. The grounds crew comes on the field, walking in a line, a few yards apart, patching the field as they go. Kate sees the event staff walking the rows of seats with blowers, sending the trash to the aisles for pick up as they clean up the stadium. 

The main lights shut down, leaving the field darkened but still lit as the crew goes about their post match maintenance routine. 

She makes her way to the tunnel, giving a high five to one of the other security staff as she heads to find Tobin. She hears the locker room door open as she approaches, voices filling the hallway. 

“Hey Kate!” Allie greets as she hugs her, “How are you?” 

“Good Al,” Kate replies, “nice game! That header!” 

“Thanks!” she says, smiling as she looks up from her knees, petting Samson. 

“Hi babe,” Tobin greets quietly, her eyes tired, hair still damp from her shower. 

Kate hugs her, kissing her softly, “Hi sweetie,” Tobin slings her arm around Kate’s waist as they walk slowly to the player exit. 

“Hungry?” Kate asks, looking over at her. 

“Nah,” Tobin shakes her head, “just tired.” 

It was brutally hot, even for a night game. They had the required water breaks, but the humidity sapped the players energy making the game drag in the later minutes. 

“We’re not going out,” Allie says as she digs in her purse, looking for her keys, “everyone is gassed.” 

Kate nods as they push through the doors, being met with the thick wall of humidity. They walk slowly to the cars. 

“I’ll see you Tuesday, Harry,” Allie says as she clicks her remote, unlocking her car. “Dinner this week with you two?” she looks at Kate. 

“Sounds good, our place?” Kate replies. 

“Yeah,” Allie nods with a smile. “Take it easy guys,” she says as she slides in to her car, keying the ignition. 

Kate unlocks the truck, grabbing Tobin’s bag from her and opening her door. Tobin smiles and kisses her cheek as she gets in, sliding the seatbelt over and buckling herself in. Kates the back of the truck, opening the back door to let Samson jump in and then she gets in. 

She looks over and sees Tobin with her head back against the seat, eye closed. 

“Are you okay, asthore?” she asks as she navigates out of the lot. 

“Yeah,” Tobin sighs, taking Kate’s free hand in hers and squeezing gently, “it was just so humid, it was hard to breathe out there.” 

“Did you get a massage after the game?” Kate wonders. 

“Nah,” Tobin replies, sitting up straighter, letting go of Kate’s hand to adjust the controls of the air conditioner, “they were booked, I’m good, though.” 

Kate nods, knowing she will give her one later tonight. It’s only almost nine, she figures Tobin might be up for a while after they get home. She should have a little something to eat when they get home, Kate notes, thinking of what she could feed her. Probably just a PB & J, light, but enough to stick to her ribs a little. 

They chat easily about the game as Kate drives, Tobin perking up little now that she was sitting in the cool air conditioned vehicle. Seattle is always a tough match, being one of the Thorns strongest rivals. Sinc went down with a slight concussion from a collision in the box, sent to the hospital for further testing as a precaution. 

Tobin texted her right after the match, she was fine, the tests were clear and she was on her way home. Kat Reynolds was going to stay with her overnight and make sure she was okay. 

When they get into the house, Tobin goes straight to the fridge, pulling out the jelly and then finding the peanut and bread. Kate sets Tobin’s bag down, unleashing Samson so he can run around outside for a while and shuts the door. 

“I can make it for you, mavourneen,” Kate says, seeing what Tobin is doing, “go sit.” 

“I got it,” Tobin says, licking the butterknife, “thanks, I’m okay.” 

Kate rubs Tobin’s back as she passes by to open the fridge. “Beer?” she asks, nudging her shoulder. 

“Sure,” Tobin grins, “want a sandwich?” 

“I’ll get something else, you go sit.” Kate replies, pulling out the makings for a salad. 

She sits next to Tobin minutes later, handing her the beer as she digs into her salad. Tobin found ESPN and they watch the highlights of the sports day, Kate smiling when she sees Tobin grinning when the announcers review the plays from the games from the NWSL. 

She feels Tobin leaning into her more as they finish eating, prompting her to take Tobin’s plate and rise from the couch. She puts the dishes in the dishwasher and then stands in front of her, extending a hand. 

“Let’s go to bed, yeah?” she suggests. 

Tobin takes her hand, “Yeah,” she grins, “I’ll get Sammy in and lock up.” 

When Tobin comes into the bedroom, Kate is looking at with a smirk. 

“What?” Tobin asks, eyebrows furrowed. 

“Time for your recovery session,” she replies, her voice low, lifting her shirt off, walking to meet her. Kate takes Tobin’s hands and places them on her breasts, “we should get started so you can get some sleep tonight.” 

Tobin licks her lips, always taken by the sight of her naked wife, “Uh, what do you have in mind?” 

Kate kisses her passionately, “You having multiple orgasms until you forget your name.” She says, lifting Tobin’s shirt and leading her to the bed. 

 

It’s Wednesday and another stack of notes lands on her desk. John looks at her, his face showing concern. “There’s a weird in one in there,” he says, sitting down on the corner of her desk, “I don’t like it.” Kate sees he’s wearing latex gloves. 

Kate looks at him, “What are you thinking?” 

John sighs, “I think Tobin has a stalker.” 

Kate’s stomach drops as she nods. “Okay, let’s see it.” 

John opens the bag and goes through it quickly, dropping notes and postcards for other players until he gets to the one he wants to show her. Kate snaps on a pair of gloves. 

It looks innocent enough, a postcard with a colorful design on the front. Kate flips it, noting it has a Portland postmark, and reading the message written in looping cursive.   
‘Have a nice trip.’ 

She furrows her brow and looks to John. “What do you think it means?” she questions. 

“I don’t know, but I don’t like it.” He replies, standing. 

“It doesn’t seem particularly threatening,” Kate reasons, turning the card in her gloved hands. 

“They have two home games now.” John states, “What type of trip is it referring to?” 

“Huh,” Kate says, he has a good point. “It is weird.” She turns the card over in her hands, thinking. “Why do you think she has a stalker?” 

John shrugs, “Hunch?” 

Kate wrinkles her nose at him, “I hope you’re wrong.” 

“So do I,” he replies, shaking his head, “something is just off about it, you know?” 

“Like they’re teasing us?” Kate asks, getting on the same thought train as him. John nods. 

“Exactly.” He nods. 

“So, what can do about this?” Kate asks prudently. 

“Be a little more diligent? Especially privately, keep your eyes open.” He replies, “Other than that, we’re in good shape here, so I’m just hoping this is a weird thing but I don’t know…” he trails off. 

“I can’t keep this from her,” Kate states firmly, “that’s not fair, but I don’t want her to worry.” 

“Well, we haven’t gotten the fingerprints back from that last one, so maybe just tell her we’re concerned?” John reasons, knowing full well what Tobin has been through. 

“Yeah,” Kate nods, thinking, “I’ll frame it like that.” 

“Okay,” he says, “let’s not get crazy or anything, we don’t know what this is yet, if anything. It’s just weird.” 

“Weird is right,” Kate mutters, looking at the postcard once more. She looks up, “I’ll see you later.” 

“Later,” John says and leaves the office. 

Kate goes through the rest of the papers, noting them on her spreadsheet and then filing them. She looks at her watch, realizing Tobin will be done for the day soon, so she heads out to the pitch to watch the end of practice. 

Players are just filtering through the tunnel as Kate greets them, keeping an eye out for her wife. She smiles as she sees Tobin slowly jogging up to her. 

“Hi you,” she says, giving her a quick peek on the lips, “how was practice?” 

“Fun!” Tobin grins. “I’ll be ready quick, okay? I want to start dinner soon.” 

“Okay, I’ll pull the car to the doors.” Kate smiles, “See you soon.” 

Tobin jogs off as Kate turns to exit the facility. 

They’re in the car heading home when Kate looks over and sees Tobin with her phone on her face. 

“Asthore?” she says quietly, focusing on the road. 

“Hm?” Tobin replies, not looking up from her phone. 

“Can I talk to you?” Kate asks. She can feel Tobin looking at her curiously. 

“Yeah, what’s up, babe?” Tobin asks, her tone questioning. 

“I don’t want to scare you or anything,” Kate starts, thinking, shit this sounds awful, “uh, you’ve gotten a couple of weird notes at the park.” 

“Okay,” Tobin replies, dragging the word out, wondering where this was going. 

“I’m concerned a little, I mean, me and John, we’re a little concerned.” Kate says nervously, “I just want you to be aware, and maybe more aware of your surroundings when out alone.” 

“Are they threats?” Tobin asks quietly. 

Kate shakes her head, “No, no, no, nothing like that. Just weird.” 

Tobin is silent for a minute, thinking. 

“How many are there?” she questions. 

“Two.” Kate replies. 

“Two?” Tobin turns to face her a little in her seat. “What’d they say?” 

Kate sighs, “The first one was postmarked from Orlando and said ‘Idiota.’” She’s turning into their driveway, “That’s weird because not a lot of people know that guy said it to you.” 

When Tobin doesn’t reply, Kate presses on, slowing the car to crawl up the drive. “The second came today and just says ‘Have a nice trip.’” 

“Huh,” Tobin shrugs, unbuckling her seatbelt as the car stops, “that is weird.” 

They both exit the vehicle and make their way into the house, Sammy greeting them excitedly. 

“So, the first one may or may not be about the attack in Florida, right?” Tobin queries. 

“Yeah, it just seems strange,” Kate replies. 

“But the other one, ‘Have a nice trip?’” Tobin opens the fridge to grab a Gatorade and pull out the dinner ingredients, “that’s just weird.” 

“Yeah,” Kate admits, “we don’t have any idea on that one, but it just seems really unusual, you know?” 

“Well, there’s a lot of weirdos out there,” Tobin states, “could be nothing,” 

“It could,” Kate nods, “but I don’t want to keep anything from you and we’re a little concerned.” 

Tobin nods as she hugs Kate, “I love you for that,” she says kissing her softly, “and I trust you and I trust John. But it seems little harmless, don’t you think? I mean, sending a card from Orlando about the attack? Then some goofy one about having a nice trip?” 

“It doesn’t sound threatening,” Kate says rubbing a hand up and down Tobin’s back, “but it’s just weird. And I want you to be aware of the weirdness. Full disclosure and all.” 

Tobin smiles at her, kissing softly again, “Full disclosure.” She nods. “I’ll keep my eyes open. And thank you for not hiding it from me, you know how much I hate that.” 

“I do,” Kate says kissing her again, “and I just want you to be safe and not worry though, alright? Like, it’s not threatening, just weird.” 

Tobin nods, getting her meaning, “I won’t,” she says, “now let me get dinner going. Allie and the gang will be here soon.” 

“Oh, there’s one more thing,” Kate says walking Tobin backwards so she’s up against the island counter. She kisses again, slowly, running her tongue along Tobin’s lips, seeking entry and tasting the unique flavor of her wife. She pulls back with a smirk, seeing Tobin standing there, eyes closed, mouth partially open.

“The Doctor said I can try again now,” Kate says softly, watching Tobin’s eyes shoot open wide and a smile cross her face. 

“Really?” she says excitedly, “Are you ready to do it again?” she looks at her, examining her face for emotions. 

Kate nods and smiles, “Yes, I am.” 

This would her second attempt at in vitro fertilization, the first not taking which isn’t unusual. They started the process before Tobin’s season started, gathering information, researching clinics and learning about what the process involved. 

They waited for a while after that, seriously discussing it and deciding when they should start. As they began the process, they learned that Kate had trouble producing eggs, so Tobin offered to have hers inserted. Kate thought that was an amazing idea and Tobin went through the procedure, being off a few days and missing a game in early May. 

They kept quiet about it, with only a handful people knowing what they were doing. When Kate found out the first attempt didn’t work, she felt awful. Tobin was her rock, being strong and offering comfort and support. She was amazing to Kate. Kate wanted to wait a little bit before the second attempt, letting her body adjust and her hormones stabilize as she underwent a new vitamin regimen. 

“How many are you thinking?” Tobin asks and she leans her head on Kate’s shoulder and she rubs her back. 

“The Dr. Chen recommends two or three,” she replies, feeling the smile from face against her neck. 

“What do you think?” she murmurs, looking into Kate’s blue eyes. 

“Two.” Kate says firmly. “I will not be an Octomom.” 

“Aw, we can’t have a litter of kids?” Tobin grins, raising her eyebrows at Kate. 

“No!” Kate laughs, pulling out of the hug and slapping Tobin’s shoulder a couple of times, “At least not at one time!” 

“Okay, okay, okay!” Tobin exclaims, “Stop hitting me!” she giggles. 

Giggling Tobin is one of Kate’s favorite things to see and hear. She can’t help but to giggle with her. 

“This one is gonna do it.” Tobin says softly, kissing her slowly. 

“We don’t know that,” Kate demures as she kisses her again, “there’s no guarantees.” 

“I feel it,” Tobin says, “I know the odds, but my gut says different.” 

Kate pulls back and puts a hand on each of Tobin’s shoulders. “I don’t want you to be devastated if this one doesn’t take.” 

“I know, I know,” Tobin says, emphasizing the words, “it’s God’s will and if it doesn’t take, we either do it again or rethink our plan.” 

Kate nods. “I love you.” 

“I love you, too,” Tobin agrees, kissing her again quickly, “now I really need to get dinner on or we won’t eat until nine o’clock.” 

“Then you should get to it!” Kate laughs, smacking her butt as she moves out of the kitchen.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The stalker strokes again, this time affecting Tobin during a game.

It’s game day, Kate and John are on the sidelines, watching the Thorns players go through the line as they sign autographs and take photos with a select group of kids and their parents on a special meet and greet on the field before the game. 

“We should probably have another barrier separating them,” John leans over to murmur into Kate’s ear. 

She nods in agreement. “Yeah, not too far, but that’s a good idea.” 

“I’ll have them in place for the next match.” John says as he whips his phone out to make a note. 

As Tobin moves down the line, she’s smiling at the youngsters, greeting them happily. It’s so cool to her to see these kids so excited about soccer and meeting the team. She feels a little uncomfortable but shakes it off, knowing she’s surrounded by her teammates and Kate is nearby. 

“Hey, can I get a photo with you?” one of the Moms ask, holding her phone out. 

“Sure!” Tobin grins, taking it in her hands, turning her back so it’s up against the metal rail. The woman leans over and Tobin smiles, clicking the phone to snap to photo. 

She’s almost done with the line, hugging one young girl who was crying because she was so excited to meet her, when another adult asks for a photo. 

“You bet,” Tobin grins, taking the phone from her, she turns to pose with her when she feels a hand by her neck, jerking her forward a little, fingers grazing under her jersey, pressing into her. “Sorry!” a voice calls out, “I got pushed.” Tobin nods, plastering a smile on her face and handing the camera back. 

Allie nudges her, “You okay?” she asks under breath, looking intently at her. 

“Yeah,” Tobin nods, “no biggie.” She shrugs. She recognizes a couple of girls from one of the DA squads and chats with them as she signs their soccer balls. 

Kate scowls from her position as she watches her wife get pushed around a little. She elbows John. “You definitely need those for next week.” She says angrily. 

“Uh huh,” he says, his voice clipped. 

They both watch as security personnel move closer, having witnessed it as well, and keep the line of players moving quickly so they can get into the locker room. 

 

Tobin’s feeling good as she changes from her warm ups into her game jersey, it’s hot out again and the game will have water breaks. They line up in the tunnel, they’re playing Chicago so she’s greeting her friends on the team as they wait to go out. Julie Ertz gives her a high five and asks her not to nutmeg her. Alyssa Naeher gives her a hug and a knuckle punch. Christen gives her a smile and wave from the front of the line. 

They get through the anthem and coin toss and the match starts. Chicago is tough, trailing the Thorns only by two points in third place. The Thorns are only one point behind the Reign as the second half of the season push starts for playoff spots and a Shield win. 

The game goes back and forth, some nice build ups resulting in a few chances for either side. They take the hydration break, Tobin running the water from the bottle over her head and neck after chugging some, still feeling good, but it’s hot. The sun is blazing down, the field is reflecting heat back up to them and it’s dangerously close for the league to postpone the game until it cools a little. 

“My boots are melting,” Allie whines, opening her mouth for some water.

“Change them in the locker room,” Sonnet suggests. 

“Screw that,” Allie says, finding the tub of ice water and standing in it, letting the water soak her feet. 

Tobin’s feet are fine, hot but not melting yet, so she doesn’t dunk them. 

The whistle blows and they disperse back into their positions to resume play. The Thorns press hard and get deep in the box, Sinc fighting for the ball just outside the eighteen yard line when she passes it to Tobin along the wing. Tobin dances with it, drawing Casey Short in and then flicking the ball over her shoulder and bursting around her, sending a cross into the box that meets Lindsey’s foot, her shot deflected out of play. 

Tobin trots to the corner, smiling as she sees Kate and Samson, setting the ball on the edge of the semi-circle and takes her five paces back. She scans the field, holding her arm, nodding, dropping her arm and taking the kick. 

She steps forward to follow the ball, blinking rapidly as she watches a white tail coming from the back end of it, like a shooting star as it curves low to the box, bouncing amongst several players before leaving the field for another kick. Tobin shakes her head, thinking she’s just a little lightheaded as she moves to take the next corner kick. 

The ball feels weird in Tobin’s hands as she places on the turf, she rubs her hands against her outer thighs along her shorts. That fabric feels amazingly silky to her, making her continue to bring her hands up and down it until she hears the whistle and takes her steps back to make her kick. 

The crowd noise rises in excitement, sounding to Tobin as if she’s under water, it’s warbled, and cutting in and out of her hearing. She shakes her head again, raising her arm, not even looking at the field. She approaches and kicks, the sound of her foot connecting with the ball echoing in her head in slow motion. She looks up to see the ball, another tail coming from it’s end, glowing this time, curving toward the far post. She jogs toward it, willing it to go in the goal. 

All Tobin can hear is the swish of the netting as the ball bounces against it, the fabric stretching slightly as it settles on the ground. 

She flinches as her hearing pops back in and the crowd noise grows deafening, her teammates hugging her. She slowly moves to watch the swirling red smoke, curling into the air from the supporters’ section. She can’t stop smiling. 

Sonnet is pushing her back into position, Tobin nodding and getting her head back in the game. She trots along the field as play resumes, looking back and marveling at the smoke as it slowly disappears into the sky. She's distracted by the smoke and the ball comes at her by surprise and she sees Sinc making a run, she feels like she’s moving as fast as lightning, nutmegging her defender and bouncing against her to get to the ball. She makes a couple of moves and then sends the forward landing the ball at Sinc’s feet, slowing to watch Sinc head fake her last defender and then take the shot. 

Tobin’s feeling dazed as she joins in the hugs of celebration, watching the smoke comes again with wide eyes. She sees the smoke form a face, smiling at her, she swears it says it loves her. She smiles, not seeing the concerned faces surrounding her. 

She lingers in the box, back turned to the field, the rest of the Thorns resuming play, still looking at the smoke, feeling hands on her and seeing Julie Ertz’s face. “Tobin, are you alright?” her voice sounds beautiful. Tobin smiles, “Yeah, I’m good, man.” 

Alyssa is next to her, Julie keeping an eye on the play, Tobin spying the turf and seeing it sparkle and glow, goes to one knee and strokes it. 

She looks up at Julie and Alyssa, “This feels amazing!” She beams at them, looking down to run her fingers through the turf, curiously looking at her hand that has some rubber pellets on it. 

Alyssa has a hand on Tobin’s back, “Yo, Tobs, everything good?” 

Tobin grins wildly at her, her eyes dilated and glossy, “It’s great, man.” 

Kate can see Julie and Alyssa gesturing to the Thorns bench for help, the trainers on the sidelines ready to go at the whistle. It’s taking everything within Kate to remain in her position and not run out on the field. 

Allie can hear the bench yelling to stop play, so she kicks the ball to the sideline, rolling it out of play and turns to see to Tobin kneeling on the turf with Alyssa next to her and Julie standing by. She runs from the center line to them, only to be greeted by a smiling Tobin. 

“What’s wrong?” Allie asks breathlessly. 

“She’s acting spaced out,” Julie answers as Robin comes with a male trainer at her side. 

“Look at these,” Tobin insists, holding the pellets to Allie’s face, “these are amazing.” Tobin says, her voice reflecting her amazement. 

“Yeah, Harry,” Allie says, rubbing her back, “they’re super cool.” 

Tobin just grins at her. Allie’s seen Tobin drunk, sick, and stoned. Right now, Tobin’s looking at her like she’s on another planet. It scares Allie. 

“Yo, Robin,” Tobin greets as Robin kneels next to her, “did you see the smoke? It smiled at me!” Tobin says excitedly. 

“Really?” Robin replies, sensing Tobin is most likely very dehydrated. “Tell me all about it,” she says, getting up and gesturing to the other trainer to get an arm under Tobin as she does the same. They help her stand and slowly walk her off the field. Tobin’s a little woozy under her arm, so Robin uses hand signals to the bench indicating they should sub Tobin out, she won’t be returning for the rest of the match. 

Tobin’s soon walking fine, gesturing animatedly to Robin as they leave the pitch and enter the tunnel. They head to the training room and sit Tobin on one of the tables with the back at an angle. 

Robin begins to apply some cool compresses on each side of Tobin’s neck and on her exposed legs while the male trainer, Mikey, works to unlace Tobin’s cleats and get her socks and shinguards off. Tobin is still looking at the rubber pellets, amazed at the texture in her hand. 

“Here,” Robin offers Tobin a water bottle filled with an electrolyte powder to drink. Tobin takes it from her, looking through the opaque liquid, holding it up to the light to inspect it. “Wow!” she whispers, seeing the individual crystals swirling in the liquid. 

She looks over at Mikey, brandishing safety scissors to cut the tape from her ankle, suddenly seeing Tony’s face. She yelps and pulls her legs back from him, stretching her sock that’s still halfway on her foot with him gripping it in his hand. 

“Don’t hurt me!” Tobin whimpers fearfully, shuddering away from him on the table. 

Robin senses Tobin’s fear, “Tobin, that’s Mikey, you remember him, right?” she asks, looking at her, seeing the terrified expression on her face. 

“It’s T-T-Ta-Ta-Tony!” Tobin gasps, clinging to the back of the table, now freeing her foot from the sock and crouched on the table. 

Robin turns to Mikey, “Go back outside and tell Donna to come in here, okay?” she instructs and Mikey nods and leaves without another word. 

Dr. Fisher comes in to see Robin trying to convince Tobin to sit back on the table. 

“Hey guys, what’s going on?” she asks genially, seeing how upset Tobin is. Sometimes major confusion occurs with dehydrated athletes, so she doesn’t think this is too out of the ordinary. 

“Tobs is a little uncomfortable with Mikey so Donna is coming to help us out,” Robin states reassuringly, not wanting to escalate the situation. 

“I love Donna,” Tobin sighs, as she slowly moves back into a sitting position, leaning her head back, looking again at the water bottle. She shakes it a little to make the swirls come back, opening her mouth in fascination. 

“Tobin,” Robin calls out, getting her attention, “Why don’t you drink some of that? I think you’ll like it, it’s fruit punch.” She suggests, wanting her to get some fluids in her system. 

“Did you get a temp yet?” Dr. Fisher asks, stepping closer to the table. 

Robin shakes her head, “She’s been a handful,” 

Dr. Fisher nods and opens her bag, retrieving a forehead temperature sticker. “Tobin, I’m going to put this on your forehead so I can see your temperature, okay?” 

Tobin nods as she takes a sip of her drink, swishing it around in her mouth, reveling in the flavor. “This is amazing,” 

“Should we start some fluids?” Robin asks, looking over to the doctor. 

Dr. Fisher is looking intently at the temperature strip, tilting her head in confusion. “It’s reading ninety-nine degrees,” she says, furrowing her eyebrows, “that’s weird.” 

She turns to Robin, “Let’s start a bag, just to be safe,” she instructs. 

“I’m hot,” Tobin declares, dropping her pellets on her lap, scattering them, as she struggles to get her sweaty jersey off. Dr. Fisher reaches over to assist her. When Tobin moves to get her sleeve off, she twists to the side and that’s when she sees it. 

Donna enters the room, looking over to see what they need. 

“Donna,” Dr. Fisher says, “will you get John and Kate in here, please? Like, quickly. Tobin is fine, but I need them now.” She says this calmly and softly, not wanting to upset Tobin, who’s back to staring at her water bottle. She’s now holding it over her head, looking up through it. 

“Wwwoooaaahhhhhh,” she says, dragging the word out, “this is soooo cool.” 

Robin looks at the doctor, and Dr. Fisher steps back from the table gesturing to her to do the same. 

“This isn’t just dehydration,” Robin states flatly, quietly. 

“No,” Dr. Fisher agrees, “I saw a dermal patch on her shoulder, just under her neck.” 

Robin looks at her sharply, “She’s not taking any pain meds, what is it?” 

The doctor shrugs, “I don’t know.” 

Kate enters with Samson, dropping the leash and he goes straight to the table, standing on his hind legs to lick Tobin’s face. 

“Samson!” she proclaims, petting his thick fur. “Dude, what’s going on?” They enter into a stare off, Tobin tilting her head as she looks into the dog’s eyes. 

Kate takes a good look at her wife and then nears the Robin and Doc. 

“She’s tripping balls!” she exclaims under her breath. John comes in looking around and heading to the group. 

He stands next to Kate as the doctor state her findings. “This isn’t just dehydration, in fact, I don’t think she’s dehydrated at all. There’s a dermal patch on her back, just by her neck.” 

“You think she’s been dosed?” John asks quietly. 

“I think so, it looks like she’s on an acid trip. It could be a host of other things though.” Dr. Fisher nods her head, “I’d like to give her some fluids, just in case, but we should transport her and get her checked out.” 

“Doc, is there any way we can do the bloodwork here?” Kate asks, “If she’s tripping, then she’s gonna have an awful one in a hospital. An ambulance is going to scare her, she’ll probably flashback to her ordeal with Allison and Tony,” she looks over at her, watching Tobin get Samson on the table with her, having him sit in between her legs, “I’d really like to avoid that.” 

“She already got scared of Mikey,” Robin adds, “she thought he was Tony.” 

Dr. Fisher thinks for a minute, knowing three sets of eyes are on her and knowing exactly what Tobin’s been through. “Alright,” she says, thinking fast, “Donna, call ACL and get them here to pick up and deliver blood to the hospital. Then, call Jenny at University’s ER and tell her expect the sample and ask to rush it through the lab. We’ll try to get urine as well, if we can.” 

Donna leaves to got to Robin’s office to make the calls. 

“I’ll feel better if we can run an ECG, have someone upstairs doublecheck film to make sure she didn’t take any headshots we missed, and eliminate head and heart. If something shows up, we’ll have to transport, but if not, we can hang here and wait for the bloodwork.” Robin moves away to make her phone calls.

“I really appreciate it,” Kate says, “what can I do?” 

“Keep her calm and in a good headspace,” Doc replies, “you’ve worked with people on acid?” 

Kate nods, “Many times,” remembering her days on patrol. 

“Good, you know how to distract her, keep her positive?” Doc asks. Kate nods again. 

“Alright, let’s get started. John, can you keep out most people? I don’t want to overwhelm her.” 

“Babe!” Tobin greets Kate when she looks up from Samson, still stroking his fur, “Hi beautiful,” she smiles, looking at her intently. 

“Hi, asthore,” Kate greets, “how are you feeling?” she asks with a smile. 

Tobin is staring at her. Her mouth slowly opening, “Woah,” she says, her eyes getting larger. 

“What is it?” Kate asks, tilting her head and smiling at her. 

“You have like, this, this, amazing glow,” Tobin says shaking her head slowly, “like it’s this beautiful turquoise.” A tear runs down her cheek as she smiles wide at Kate, “You’re so beautiful,” she says, “I can’t believe it.” 

“Tobin,” Doctor Fisher says, approaching slowly, “we’re going to monitor your heart, okay? I’d like to see what it’s doing? Do you want to look at it?” Robin is wearing latex gloves   
and removing the patch from the back of her shoulder. She drops it in a plastic baggie, seals it and heads towards John at the door. 

“You’re going to open my chest?” Tobin asks, putting a hand to her chest, eyes wide. 

“No,” she smiles, “I’m going to attach these little wires to your skin and they’ll give me a reading, is that okay? Then you can look at it on the monitor, it’s pretty cool.” She nods her head at Tobin. 

“The wires won't hurt?” Tobin asks, unsure, looking at Kate. "It's cool?"

“Yeah, it’s cool, mavourneen,” Kate says, running her hand along Tobin’s sweaty forearm, “You’ll be fine.” 

“You’re sure?” Tobin asks, still unconvinced. 

“I wouldn’t lie to you, you’ll be okay.” Kate states. “Would you feel better if I’m right here next to you?” 

“Yeah,” Tobin nods, “could we like, kiss and make out and you’d let me take my fingers” 

Kate presses her hand to Tobin’s mouth, “Woah! Woah! Woah!” she says, laughing, “maybe later, okay? Not here. When we go home.” 

Tobin just nods, smiling behind Kate’s fingers across her mouth. 

When Kate removes her hand, Tobin smiles again, “You’re really beautiful.” 

“So are you,” Kate smiles back at her, “how about you lean back a little and we can get these wires on you and you can see the cool readout?” 

Tobin nods and stares at Dr. Fisher as she works to attach the pads and wires, Tobin gazing up at her. “You have this green, it’s so pretty,” she says. 

“Oh yeah?” Dr. Fisher asks, “Tell me about it.” She says, suppressing a grin as she works. Robin has rolled up the monitor and confirms quietly that she has it linked for one of the cardiologists over at University to read it. 

“It’s like, this vibrant green, kinda like the pitches in Brazil, but it breathes, like, it moves with every breath you take. It’s so calm.” Tobin says, reaching her arm out near her head, “It’s a deeper green here and then it like pulses out, and tingles at the end.” 

“Sammy, lay down,” Kate instructs, letting the dog settle in between Tobin’s legs with his head on her lap. She wants to keep him up there, knowing Tobin is comforted by his presence. 

“We’re ready for the blood draw, too,” Robin says quietly. 

“Tobin, we’re going to draw some blood so we can be sure you’re okay.” Dr. Fisher states, as she explains what she needs to do. 

“You’ll be fine,” Kate assures her, “you’ve had it done before.” 

“Okay,” Tobin agrees turning her attention back to the monitor to see the cardiac rhythm on display. “wow,” she states, “that’s my heart?” Both of her hands are on Samson, petting him lightly. 

“Uh huh,” Kate says, edging closer to her, suddenly getting an idea. She turns to Robin, “Do you have a hand held mirror?” she asks. 

“Yeah,” Robin answers, pointing to a cabinet. “Top drawer, right hand side.” 

Kate retrieves it and just as Dr. Fisher begins to insert the needle, she holds it in front of Tobin. “Do you have a color, asthore?” she asks quietly. 

The distraction works, Tobin is mesmerized by looking at herself. “It’s, it’s this orange,” she says, her voice so quiet, “like a sunset, but there’s so many oranges in it,” Tobin doesn’t even flinch when the needle goes in. 

“How do you mean?” Kate asks, wanting to keep her engaged in the distraction. She peers over Tobin’s shoulder to see one tube has been filled.

“Like, some parts close to my head are super orange, and others are orangey yellow.” Tobin explains. 

“How cool is that?” Kate comments, laying her hand on Tobin’s face, looking at her lovingly, “Orange is your favorite color, how cool is that?” 

Tobin looks at her with her mouth open, eyes wide, a look of amazement of her face, “That’s so rad!” she exclaims loudly. Kate grins at her, “Yeah, it’s pretty awesome, huh?” 

“Wow,” Tobin replies, waving her hand in front of the mirror, trying to touch the color. 

Donna appears at their side, “Video guys say no headshots seen,” she murmurs, to Robin and Dr. Fisher before taking a step back when Tobin shoots her hand out to grip her arm. 

“You’re blue!” she grins, “What a cool shade, dude.” She lets go of her arm. 

“Uh, thanks!” Donna replies, smiling at her nervously as she scoots away. 

Tobin lays her head back, scratching Samson’s ears gently. “He’s the best dog, ever.” She sighs. Kate lays her hand on Tobin’s shoulder, they can hear the Thorns entering the locker room down the hall. 

“What’s the score?” Tobin asks suddenly, sitting upright. 

Kate presses her shoulder gently so she reclines again, “Let’s see if we can get it on TV, okay?” 

Robin tilts her head at Donna who grabs the remote and gets the live feed up on the screen nearest to them. 

They watch the halftime show, seeing Tobin’s corner kick goal and Sinc’s as well. The Thorns are up by two still, the announcers commenting on Tobin’s absence. 

“Tobin,” Robin says softly, “do you think you can finish your drink?” The sounds of the players leaving the locker room can be heard. 

“Oh, yeah,” Tobin nods, “it’s delicious.” She grins, chugging it and then looking at the bottle. She looks up at Kate, somberly, “It’s in me now.”

“That’s a good thing,” Kate replies rubbing her shoulder, “are you hungry?”

Tobin nods. 

“Will you be okay if I go and get you something? Like fruit?” Kate asks, wondering how Tobin feels if she leaves her sight. 

Tobin nods, “I’m cool,” she grins, “Robin is blue and Doc is green, I’m good.” 

Kate makes way out of the training room, briefly talking to John, then going into the locker room to make a plate for Tobin. She nears the table and hears crying from behind her, spinning to see Allie sitting at her locker. 

“Kate!” Allie cries, “How is she?” She rises to throw herself into Kate’s arms. 

“She’s okay, she’s okay,” Kate soothes, “she’s out of it, but they think she’ll be fine.” 

Allie pulls back to look at her, “You’re not lying to me, are you?” She asks, her voice wavering, her eyes wet with tears. 

“No,” Kate says firmly, “we think she got dosed with something, so, she’s acting weird, but her head and heart are fine and Doc sent out some bloodwork. She’ll be fine.” 

Someone opens the locker room door, “Five minutes Al!” a voice rings out. 

“Why isn’t she at the hospital?” Allis asks.

“We thought it best not to take her, I thought it would trigger her badly.” 

“Oh,” Allie replies, looking thoughtful and clearly trying to figure out what exactly was going on. 

“She’ll be pissed if you miss the second half,” Kate smiles at her, “she’s watching the game right now.” 

“She’ll be okay?” Allie confirms.

“Yes,” Kate says hugging her, “get out there and score one for her, okay?” 

Allie nods, wiping her face, taking a deep breath, “Okay, I will.” 

Allie trots to the door, lingering for a moment, “You’re not lying?” 

“No.” Kate repeats, “She’ll be fine.” 

Allie nods and exits the room. 

Kate turns back to the table and makes a small plate with fruits she knows Tobin likes. 

 

“Here,” Kate offers the plate to her wife, “have some.” 

Tobin takes the plate and looks at it closely, inspecting the foods. Kate looks around and sees Dr. Fisher a few feet away, on her laptop, reading something. Robin’s near another table, paging through a book. 

Samson has his head up, looking at Tobin’s plate. Tobin smiles and offers him an orange slice. He takes it daintily from her fingers, making her laugh. 

“Only one, asthore,” Kate mildly suggests, “he doesn’t eat a lot of fruit.” 

Tobin looks at her heartbroken, “I’m so sorry!” she exclaims, looking remorseful. 

“It’s okay,” Kate smiles at her, leaning in and kissing her cheek, “one won’t hurt him. You’re fine.” 

“Oh, okay,” Tobin leans back, holding up a strawberry, squinting as she looks at it. “look at that,” she says slowly, turning it with her fingers, “that’s so rad!”

Kate pulls a chair up so she can sit next to her and leans her elbows on the table and picks up a strawberry as well. “You think it looks cool?” she asks, “Just taste it.” She slowly takes a bite of the fruit, smiling at Tobin. 

Tobin stares at her, leaning over to whisper at her, “I want to taste you,” she says suggestively, wiggling her eyebrows. 

“Later,” Kate nods, “try one.” She says to distract her, she nudges her hand. 

Kate watches amused as Tobin licks the strawberry before taking a bite. She watches as her expression changes from enjoyment to rolling her eyes and moaning as she chews. 

“This is fucking amazing!” Tobin yells loudly, strawberry bits flying from her mouth. 

Both Doc and Robin flinch from the outburst, looking over and shaking their heads at Tobin. Kate giggles to herself, trying to remain serious, but feeling that Tobin is truly on an amazing acid trip. Kate remembers her days as a D.A.R.E. representative for the department, going to schools and speaking about the dangers of drugs. She had done extension training and was really fascinated with LSD and its properties. She was praying that was all Tobin was dosed with and not some nasty mix of anything else. 

Robin’s phone rings, Kate sees her grab it quickly and answer. She gets up and walks over to Doc and hands her the phone. Doc is listening and nodding her head. She thanks the caller and hangs up, handing the phone back to Robin. 

“Cardiology is perfect, no issues.” Doc declares, “blood should be back in ten minutes.” 

“That’s quick,” Kate comments, handing another strawberry to Tobin. Tobin’s making all of these quiet noises as she looks at the fruit, sounding like a kid who has received the most awesome Christmas present ever. Kate tries to distract herself from the moans coming out of her wife’s mouth as she eats, reminding herself where she is and under what circumstances. 

“It’s hard,” Tobin frowns, looking up at the monitor. 

“What’s hard, sweetie?” Kate asks, wondering what’s wrong. 

“Seeing the game,” Tobin replies, she tilts her head at the screen, “there’s like, twenty balls on the field.” She complains, “How can they play like that?” her eyes are rapidly moving, trying to focus. 

“Maybe we should find something else to watch?” Kate suggests, wondering what Tobin is seeing in her altered state.

“Let me watch you,” Tobin grins, grabbing Kate’s hand, “you’re pretty.” 

Robin strides up, handing a clipboard with a blank piece of paper on it and a few markers, “Tobin, how about you draw me a picture?” she suggests, “I’d like Kate to look at something for few minutes.”

“Oh, yeah!” Tobin replies excitedly, uncapping a marker and looking at the tip. Kate leaves her side and walks over to where Robin has a book open, looking at her curiously. 

“Check these out,” Robin points, “there’s a couple of chapters about what to expect the day after a trip, thought maybe you’d want to read it.” 

Kate nods, “That’s a great idea, thanks.” She says, leaning over to start reading. 

Dr. Fisher rises from her seat and stands next to Kate, “She may be nauseous and confused and embarrassed tomorrow, possibly a little dehydrated, so I’d push fluids on her.” she says quietly, “I’d just tell her the truth, and maybe call Jen tonight to let her know. It’s probably going to trigger her.” 

Kate nods as she swallows, sure it’s a little humorous right now, with them thinking there’s nothing too dangerous in her system, just the LSD, but tomorrow the chips will fall with   
Tobin’s reaction. “Yeah,” she sighs, “I have no idea how she’ll react.” 

“I’ve just read that some people vomit when they start to come back, it’s a side effect but noteworthy enough to mention,” Doc advises. 

“Especially since she’s a puker,” Kate nods, looking over at her wife. Tobin is diligently marking her right hand up, concentrating as she draws on it, her tongue sticking out of the side of her mouth, her face scrunched in focus. Kate sighs and shakes her head, nudging Doc, who reacts the same. 

Robin’s phone chirps and she answers it, walking towards Doc, listening for a moment and then handing it over. 

Doc takes the call, listening, nodding, asking a few questions, then waiting in silence for a minute, “I’m waiting to talk to the ER Doc on call,” she informs Kate and Robin.

“Robin,” Kate says, “those markers aren’t permanent, are they?” she asks. 

“Oh, I think they are, why?” Robin replies. Kate tilts her head towards Tobin, who has added another color to her hand art. Robin turns her back quickly, stifling a giggle. 

Doc is speaking, so Kate and Robin step away and Kate points to the book, “Thanks, I’ve dealt with a lot of people during their trips, but not after, so this was perfect.” 

“I’m so sorry this happened, honey.” Robin says, wiping an eye, “you two have been through so much.” 

Kate sighs, “Trouble seems to follow us,” she says, looking over to see Tobin, holding the marker up, eying the tip carefully, bringing it near her stuck out tongue. “Don’t eat that   
Tobin!” she calls out, striding quickly next to her, “This isn’t something you can eat, sweetheart,” she says softly, lowering Tobin’s hand from her mouth. 

“I can’t taste the colors?” Tobin asks innocently. 

Kate shakes her head sadly, “Not with those,” 

“Oh,” Tobin replies, her shoulders dropping, “okay.” 

Relieved that she was so agreeable, Kate looks at the plate that still has a couple of pieces of fruit on it.

She holds up an orange slice, “Did you know that an orange taste like the color orange?” 

“No way! Really?” Tobin asks, eyebrows high on her forehead. 

“Yeah, here.” Kate replies, offering the piece to her. “Look at all of the veins, isn’t it cool?” she suggests. 

“Dude!” Tobin exclaims quietly, examining the piece in her fingers. She peels the thin skin back, looking at the individual segment, looking at the tiny juice sacs. Kate quietly takes the markers away, noting Tobin’s multi-colored hand. It’s looks like a henna design with colorful areas shaded in, tracing over the veins in her hand. 

Tobin starts to take apart the piece, pieces falling onto Samson’s head as he sleeps on her lap, she’s moving slowly so she doesn’t break the thin membrane, muttering to herself about how fucking amazing it is. 

Kate flinches when Doc lays a hand on her shoulder, “About three hits of good quality LSD. Nothing else.” 

“Fuck,” Kate says quietly, “she’ll be flying for a while, huh?” 

Doc nods, “For several hours. You’ll be alright getting her home?” 

“Yeah,” Kate nods, “thanks for being so understanding.” 

Doc gives her a short hug, “You were looking out for her best interests, and you made great points about her treatment and look how well she’s doing.” They both turn to see Tobin licking her hand to pick up the tiny juice sacs with her tongue. She holds her mouth open before running her teeth over them, squishing them and then chewing slowly. 

They both laugh quietly, Kate takes her phone out and makes a short video as Tobin repeats the process. 

“Alright, well I’m going to get her home, I’m sure she’ll feel even better there.” Kate says as John pops his head in. 

“How’s it going?” he asks, looking over at Tobin and smirking ever so slightly. 

“We’re going home, she’s good, dosed with three hits of LSD.” Kate replies, shaking her head. 

“Give me ten minutes and your car keys and I’ll be back,” John says, holding his hand out. 

Kate gets her keys, thankful she has them on her. She hands them over to him. She doesn’t normally bring a purse to the park, especially on game day. 

He takes them and swiftly leaves the room, his two-way radio to his mouth, barking out orders. 

Kate approaches Tobin who is now just licking her hand. 

“Asthore,” Kate smiles at her, thoroughly amused, feeling such relief knowing she isn’t being subjected to any type of dangerous drug. It’s not that LSD doesn’t have it own sets of dangers, but Kate’s just thankful that Tobin wasn’t dosed with something that would shut down her kidneys or actually kill her. “Are you ready to go home?” 

“Home?” Tobin repeats, nodding, “Oh yeah!” she’s balling her hands into fists, frowning at them. 

“What’s wrong?” Kate asks as Robin approaches with a damp cloth. 

“Sticky,” Tobin frowns. 

“Tobin, let me help you with that while Kate gets your gear, okay?” She asks sweetly, smiling at her. 

Tobin holds her hands out in front of her, resembling a small child. 

Kate trots to the locker room to retrieve her wife’s belongings from her locker, quickly shoving her clothing, phone, wallet and keys into the bag. She spies the dry erase board with Mark’s scrawl on it. 

She takes the marker and writes that Tobin is good, text Kate for updates- go Thorns! 

John is in the room when Kate returns, twirling her keys in his fingers. He nods, “Exit through the Fire Door B right next to the tunnel. They area has been cleared, you’re good to go.” 

“Thanks,” Kate says, taking the keys from him. 

“Come on, you ready?” Kate says, after ordering Samson off the table. Tobin slides off, losing her balance for a quick moment, holding onto Kate’s arm. “Woah,” she says. 

“You okay?” Kate asks, her voice alarmed, Robin steps forward. 

“Yeah,” Tobin says, shaking her head slowly, “everything just went real blurry.” 

“Take it slow, we’ll see you later.” Robin says as Kate helps get a shirt over Tobin’s sports bra. She decides to let her go barefoot, no sense trying to fight to get her into shoes right now. 

“Thanks Robin,” Tobin says, smiling at her, “you’re such a pretty blue.” 

“Thanks Doc!” she yells out as Kate leads her through the door, “Stay green!” 

Kate helps Tobin into the car, she’s fascinated by her seatbelt and Kate has to ask her to please stop clicking it and unclicking it so they can leave. She distracts her by asking her to find something to listen to on the radio. 

John parked them just off the main road out from the stadium, Kate seeing two squad cars waiting to escort them out of the city. She follows the lead car, Tobin raving about the flashing lights when a song comes on the radio and she turns it up. 

“Dude! I love this song!” she exclaims, and Kate realizes it’s a Coldplay tune. 

They jam to it as Kate drives, Tobin singing her heart out, then asking for her phone so she can play something off her playlist. 

“Here,” Kate hands her phone over, “yours is in the back,” she explains. 

Tobin holds the phone out, scrolling through it, looking for something, she alternates between bringing the screen close to her face and then far back. 

“Okay?” Kate asks, glancing over at her. 

“Yeah, it’s just breathing.” Tobin comments, her voice calm as if that was a very normal thing to occur. 

Kate sucks air through her teeth with her eyebrows raised as she drives along, wondering what their night will be like and how long Tobin will stay awake. 

“Oh yeah,” Tobin mutters turning the volume up. Kate hears the familiar chords of David Bowie’s Space Odyssey come through her speakers. Loud. 

Tobin leans her head back, smiling. “Ground control to Major Tom,” she sings out. Kate thinks Tobin actually has a very good singing voice. It’s not trained, but she could crank out something on karaoke. Tobin has always told her she’d have to be wasted to sing in front of people and that hasn’t happened yet, so Kate doubts she’ll ever see it. 

Soon, they’re both singing along, Tobin with tears streaming down her face, claiming to Kate how beautiful and sad this is. 

The cops pull over and Kate flashes her brights as a thank you and continues to drive to their house. 

Next on Tobin‘s playlist as she sniffles after that song is Adele’s Rolling in the Deep. They both sing it as they go, dancing in their seats. 

Kate reaches for her hand, and Tobin looks at her as the song ends, “Play me a love song, mavourneen,” she says quietly. 

She glances as she drives, seeing Tobin, biting her lower lip with her upper teeth, concentrating as looks for the perfect one. 

“I love you,” she hears Tobin says quietly, grabbing her hand and squeezing tightly. 

It takes Kate a minute as the music starts to recognize the song. God Only Knows by the Beach Boys. Tobin cries as she holds Kate’s hand, professing her love to her. Kate tearing up at how eloquently and heartfelt she is to her. 

It’s nearing nine-thirty when they pull into the drive, slowing down as Tobin tries to open the door. Kate holds her arm, not letting her get out even though she’s still buckled in. 

Kate’s grateful Tobin didn’t try this sooner and she mentally kicks herself for not locking the doors. 

Tobin struggles to unbuckle her belt, not realizing she has to push the button in. Kate comes around and leans over her and quickly gets her free. 

“Are you a magician?” Tobin smiles, looking up at her. 

“Not really,” Kate answers, kissing her cheek, “but sometimes I’m a wizard.” She says, knowing Tobin would get excited about that. 

“Woah!” Tobin exclaims as she lets Kate pull her out of the car, stumbling a little before she gets her balance. Kate takes her hand to lead her in the house, but Tobin stops on the deck. “Oh, man!” she says, her voice full of wonder, “Look at that,” she says slowly, her face turned up to see the stars on this clear night. 

Kate slides her arm around Tobin’s waist, looking up as well, “There’s so many, huh?” she says quietly. 

“Let’s go in the house, okay?” Kate suggests, tugging Tobin towards the door. Tobin comes along, no resistance, and patiently waits as Kate punches in the door code and upon entering, the alarm code. Tobin instantly goes to the back wall, feeling the stones protruding from it, leaning against, as Kate flicks on the lights inside. 

Kate suppresses a laugh, but thinks Tobin might be interested in what happened if she doesn’t remember her trip. That was one thing she recalls reading so long ago, how some people have no recollection of their experience. Kate takes out her phone, recording a video as she questions Tobin about the wall. 

“It’s the heart of the house,” Tobin informs her, stroking one of the rocks nearest her head, “it, like, keeps everything going. It’s beating, I can feel it,” she says excitedly, leaning forward to pull Kate closer, she stumbles as Tobin drags her next to her. 

“Feel it,” she orders, nodding for to place her hand on the wall, “can’t you feel the beat?” she asks, as she leans against it again, softly stroking the rock. 

Kate places her hand on the rock, knowing she won’t feel anything but wanting to placate her wife. “It’s feels so cool,” she smiles at her, Tobin giving her a wide smile back. Kate ends the video.

“Do you want to eat something?” Kate questions, walking towards the kitchen, looking back to see Tobin stroke the fabric of the couch. 

“No, I’m not hungry.” Tobin replies, “Just thirsty.” 

“Gatorade?” Kate asks, opening the fridge. 

“Sure,” Tobin smiles crookedly at her. 

“Here,” Kate says, holding the bottle up and tossing it to her. 

Tobin’s still smiling at her as she moves her hands way too late to catch the looming bottle. It strikes her in the shoulder, causing her to stumble back, one hand holding the couch. She’s laughing as she keeps ahold of the couch and stoops to pick up the bottle from the floor. 

“I’m so sorry!” Kate exclaims, coming around to her as Tobin stands upright, still giggling. “Are you okay?” 

“It’s fine,” Tobin laughs, “that thing like totally curved.” She shakes her head, “You are a wizard.” 

“Let’s sit down, okay?” Kate suggests, now beginning to wonder what she should be doing to keep under her watch, safe and amused. 

Tobin is holding her hand as she chugs her drink, Kate looks down and sees the colorful hand and an idea pops into her head. 

“Hey, mavourneen,” she says, nudging her shoulder slightly, “wanna go paint and listen to some music?” 

Tobin nods as she drinks, some of the liquid spilling over the brim and onto her chin, trailing down her neck. 

“Ah!” Tobin says, grinning as she gets up from the couch, wiping her face with the back of her hand. 

Kate shakes her head as she leads her by hand out the back door, making sure it locks as Samson runs in front of them, happily spinning in a circle. Tobin laughs out loud as she watches, slowly walking with Kate to the big barn.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kate watches over Tobin during her LSD trip. The next day, Tobin reacts to learning about what happened to her.

Tobin is frowning as she looks over the canvasses in front of her. Kate looks at her with raised eyebrows. 

“I want a bigger one,” Tobin sighs, looking upset. 

“What about a piece of plywood?” Kate asks, shrugging her shoulders, Tobin shrugs her shoulders back at her, grinning as she repeats the move as Kate slides from her chair and heads to the workshop. “Come on, I need you to help carry it.” Kate says. 

They’ve set the canvas drop cloth on the floor, using four five gallon buckets turned upside down to rest the four foot by eight foot piece of wood and lean it up against the wall. 

Kate sets up a card table that Tobin uses for her paints as Tobin brings the bins full of colorful tubes out of the locker and sets them on the table. 

They’ve opened the big doors to get some air circulation on this hot night, moths and other insects are circling the lights high above them. Kate turned on the ceiling fans to move the air, Tobin stared at them for a full five minutes. 

Kate watches as Tobin strokes the ends of her brushes, pacing in front of her board. She asked Kate to select the music telling her she wanted her to be happy too. 

“Do you want to paint?” Tobin asks, running the soft bristles of her brush under her chin. 

“I’m good,” Kate says, “I think I’ll just hang here, be on my phone and watch you if that’s okay.” she answers. 

Tobin shrugs her shoulder three times, grinning at her and starts looking at her paints. 

Kate watches as Tobin’s shoulders drop, a frown spreading across her face, and her breathing pick up. 

“What’s the matter, asthore?” Kate asks sympathetically. 

“I don’t know what to paint,” Tobin says helplessly, looking at her paint tubes and quart cans. 

“Why don’t you sit on the floor or lay down and listen to some music and see if that inspires you?” Kate suggests, thinking back to how she reacted in the car. 

Tobin sits crossed legged on the floor, playing with her paintbrush, slowly gliding it across her skin. Kate scrolls through the playlist and selects the one she thinks will be awesome for Tobin to listen to. Tobin’s been on a Sixties kick recently, after Kate made her watch the Woodstock documentary. She smiles as she hits play. 

It starts with the Mamas and the Papas, their strong harmony coming over the PA speakers with the beginning strains of Monday, Monday. Kate watches as Tobin’s lays back, a grin on her face, nodding her head to the beat. 

Kate focuses on her phone, texting the Tobin’s Mom and Perry who had been texting her asking about what was going on. They’ve been in the loop with this new stalker issue, Tobin keeping them informed, but Kate’s not letting her near her phone tonight and maybe not even tomorrow. She’ll wait for how she acts whenever she gets up. If she ever goes to sleep tonight.

Kate is absorbed in her phone, looking up occasionally to see Tobin still lying there and she’s beginning to wonder if Tobin will just lay there all night. 

Then, she texts Robin and Doc, letting them know they got home fine and what Tobin is doing now. Doc reminds her to push fluids and let her only take Tylenol in the morning if she has a headache. 

She’s texting her group chat of Allie, Sinc, Kling, Emily and Lindsey letting them know exactly what happened and what is going on now. She asks them to keep it quiet because she is unsure what the Thorns’ public announcement will be on the incident. 

They’re all very concerned and asking Kate if they need her there, which she tells them she has it under control right now. She’ll let them know about tomorrow but thinks they’ll just lay low. 

Kate texts John, letting him know their status. He answers back telling her he is pulling all staff files again to review and see if anyone looks suspicious enough to have dosed Tobin. He’s also reviewing pregame film to see if they can catch when it happened. Doc told him she was most likely dosed before the game. 

 

She texts Alex separately, knowing that one will be a more difficult exchange. She explains she can’t talk right now, for one, she can’t hear because the music is so loud and secondly, she doesn’t want to talk about this in front of Tobin. 

Tobin hasn’t asked her what’s wrong yet, Kate’s not even sure she realizes that she’s drugged or what. She doesn’t want to tell her for fear of it making her scared right now. She’ll wait for tomorrow when she’s more lucid. 

Alex is horrified by what happened, wanting to know if she can do anything from afar to help. By now, Kate knows that Alex is a woman of action and just wants to help and be useful. Alex offers to pay for a private investigator to work on the attack in Orlando if it would help. 

Kate admits neither she nor John thought of that possibility, and would let her know if the Thorns decide not to cover it. Alex is a smart cookie.

The National Team is coming to town soon so they make plans to have Alex come over with Ali and Ash and whoever else for dinner. They chat easily and Kate smiles at how caring Alex is of Tobin. And now her. She tells her about starting again with the in vitro process and she can practically hear Alex squeal with excitement through her texts replies.

When Kate signs off from Alex, she looks up and sees that Tobin is furiously painting on the board, jamming out Jefferson Airplane’s White Rabbit. She smiles thinking about how the lyrics are about the very drug Tobin is on right now. 

Kate tilts her head to look at what Tobin is painting with these broad strokes and realizes she’s using her hand and fingers, not her brushes. She’s thankful that the paints are acrylics and will come off in the shower. 

She rests her chin in her hand, watching Tobin move with fluidity, darting across the board, from side to side with colorful swipes of colors. Then she goes to the table and sorts through the paints, opening colors before choosing and dunking her hand in, bringing it to the board. She’s wiping the paint of her shorts and shirt, quickly becoming a mess and Kate could care less. There’s something so freeing in watching Tobin paint like this. She brings her phone up and steadily records for a whole song, smiling as Tobin dances with herself, lost in inspiration. 

When the song finishes, Kate leaves her perch and gets a beer from the bar, approaching Tobin and offering her an orange juice bottle. 

Tobin smiles at her, clearly in another headspace, “This is amazing!” she yells over the music. Kate smiles at her and kisses her cheek, looking at her work so far. 

There’s something there she can see, an emotion is pulling at her but she doesn’t know what it is quite yet. She nods to Tobin who eagerly goes back to painting. 

Kate settles back in her spot, texting Liz and Jen, responding to Liz’s texts asking about what happened to Tobin. Liz was perceptive enough to know it clearly wasn’t dehydration from how she was acting on the pitch and is concerned. Liz and Jen are both well aware of the new stalker situation, both equally incensed that someone was able to dose Tobin. 

Two hours later and Kate has moved on to a slower playlist of old songs, hoping to help bring Tobin down gently. Tobin is using her fingers to create small details on the vivid picture she’s created. There’s a flow to it, a certain feeling of being free as the colors blend into one another, swirling in a smooth manner. Kate records her again, moving close to see her face, the smile that doesn’t leave Tobin’s face as she outlines certain shapes and darkens others. 

 

It’s nearing three thirty in the morning, Kate turning the music low, watching as Tobin sits in front of her creation, looking up at it. 

Kate shuts the music off and stands next to her. “Mavourneen,” she says, laying her hand on Tobin’s shoulder, “have you finished it?” 

Tobin looks up, tears running down her face as she nods at her. 

“It’s amazing,” Kate comments as she views it. The colors pop, it’s so vibrant yet feel so peaceful and warm. She still can’t explain the emotions it pulls from her. 

Tobin is standing next to her, yawning. 

“You okay?” Kate asks, looking her over. Tobin nods, looking sleepy.

Kate nods, “Let’s go get cleaned up and go to bed.” 

“Okay,” Tobin replies, her voice tired. 

Kate gets the lights shut off and Tobin helps her close the big doors and making sure it’s all locked up. They walk silently to the house, Tobin holding her hand, swinging it between them. 

 

Tobin is giggling as she watches the paint swirl down the drain of the sink as Kate helps her clean her hands. The marker isn’t coming off, but Kate doesn’t care about that. She makes sure Tobin’s nails are clean, and then shuts off the water. 

“Let’s get you in the shower,” Kate instructs as she turns on the water. Tobin doesn’t move. 

“I’m scared.” She says, looking at the water coming from the shower head. 

Kate wasn’t planning to shower with her, but decides to do it if it will keep Tobin calm. The night has been a success in terms from keeping Tobin safe and happy and she doesn’t want to end it on a down note. 

“Let’s do it together, I’ll be right there with you, okay?” Kate suggests, removing her shirt. Tobin’s mouth drops as she sees Kate in her bra and she begins to take her own clothes off. 

Kate steps in first, offering her hand to Tobin, who grabs it and follows. “See?” Kate says, letting the water run down her, “It’s okay, it’s nice and warm.” She grabs a washcloth and wets it and runs it down her body, circling her chest and down an arm. 

“Your turn?” she asks, gently guiding Tobin’s arm to hit the water first and then her shoulder so she is under the water. 

Tobin closes her eyes, “Feels good,” she says. 

Kate helps her wash her hair, going slowly, reminding Tobin to keep her eyes shut. Tobin gets distracted when Kate begins to wash her, examining the soap bubbles on her skin and watching in fascination as they glide off when the water hits it. 

After they’re both clean, Tobin gets a little handsy, holding Kate and letting her fingers glide over her body, kissing along her neck. Kate’s trying hard not to let it escalate, she’s having mixed feelings about having sex while Tobin is under the influence. 

“Babe,” Tobin murmurs against her ear, her voice deep and low and full of lust, “I want you so bad,” 

Kate steps back, looking at her, seeing her eyes, those dark pools of brown shining at her. The water is getting cooler, Tobin now looking at the goosebumps forming on Kate’s skin. She takes Kate’s hand, leading her out of the shower, Kate pausing to turn off the water as Tobin hands her a towel. 

They dry off, Tobin sending these hungry looks at her. Weighing her options of telling her no and knowing Tobin will want to know why she doesn’t want to have sex and then the possibility of her getting upset and escalating Tobin into something very upsetting or just doing it. 

Kate smiles back at her, almost shyly, beginning to feel turned on by her wife, standing there naked and lusting for her. Once dried, she looks at Tobin and smiles again, dropping the towel on the floor and walking out into the bedroom. Tobin’s right behind her, Kate feeling a hand on her low back, knowing this has a chance of being amazing for both of them. 

They get in bed, sliding over to the middle to meet each other, hands softly touching one another. Kate slides over so she’s half on top of Tobin, seeing her sleepy face in the moonlight coming through the skylights. Her eyes are half shut as she kisses her softly. 

She feels Tobin’s hands slowly roaming over her back and trailing down to her ass and then falling off her body. Kate pulls her head back from Tobin’s neck and sees that she is asleep. 

She smiles as she looks at her, grateful Tobin is out and now actually relieved they didn’t have sex. Kate was feeling more uncomfortable at the thought, thinking she was violating her wife in her altered state. 

She scoots over, laying on her side with her hand on Tobin’s stomach, heads close as she let’s sleep take her. 

 

 

“What the heck?” Kate hears a voice quietly question next to her. She sleepily opens her eyes and sees Tobin lying in her back with her right arm stretched out in front of her, examining the colorful artwork on her hand.

Kate rubs her hand on Tobin’s belly, making her turn to loo at her. “Morning,” Tobin says quietly, then turning to look at her hand again. 

“Hi, you,” Kate says, hooking her leg over Tobin’s. 

Kate studies Tobin’s face as she crinkles her forward in confusion. “Babe?” she questions, not turning to look at Kate, eyes still on her hand, “What’s going on? I feel super foggy and I’m really confused about last night.” She finally turns to look at her, Kate seeing some fear in her eyes. “Did I hit my head or something?” 

“You didn’t hit your head,” Kate replies, reaching out her hand to pull some of Tobin’s wild hair from her face, hearing her phone alert her to a text message. 

She turns and reaches for it, opening it up and reading the message. She turns back to Tobin. “Dr. Fisher is coming over soon with Robin to check you out.” 

“Why? What’s wrong with me?” Tobin asks fearfully, eyes wide. 

“Nothing is wrong,” Kate soothes, “you were slipped some drugs last night and they want to do some bloodwork and make sure you’re okay.” 

Tobin sits up suddenly, looking at Kate. “What happened?” she demands, her voice urgent. 

Kate sits up and looks at her. “You were dosed with LSD last night.” 

Tobin’s mouth drops open, confusion spreading across her face, her head titling to look at Kate. “What?” she asks, “How?” 

Kate takes one of Tobin’s hands in hers and looks intently at her. “Someone put a dermal patch on you before the game, and you began to act strangely about thirty-five minutes in. It totally looked like you were dehydrated and they took you out of the game.” 

“What did I do?” 

“You kept looking at the smoke after you scored and were distracted and kind of stopped playing,” Kate explains. “We can watch it in a little bit, if you want.” She offers.

Kate sees Tobin’s expression change from confusion to mortification. She buries her face in her hands. 

“The Thorns issued a statement you had a severe electrolyte imbalance with the heat and there’s only a handful of people who know what actually happened. Nobody is going to talk about it.” Kate says quickly, trying to comfort her. 

Tobin drops her hands and looks at Kate. “LSD?” Kate nods. Tears form in her eyes, sliding down her cheeks. She buries her head in her hands again and begins to cry.   
Kate moves to embrace her, feeling Tobin’s shoulder shuddering as she sobs. She holds her, praying to God that He would do something to ease her and give her strength. She’s so worried about her, fearing this could send her over the edge. She didn’t know what to expect this morning, she wants to know what Tobin’s feeling, how she can help her. 

“Did,-did-did” Tobin’ stuttering, trying to speak while crying, “I h-hur-hur-hurt anyone?” 

“No, you didn’t, asthore,” Kate soothes, “Dr. Fisher and Robin and made sure you were okay and then we came home. We relaxed and listened to music and you painted out in the barn. It was fine, you were fine, you didn’t hurt anyone.” 

Tobin cries harder and Kate thinks it’s out of relief. One of the main things Tobin struggled with in dealing with her PTSD from the events from almost two years ago was the possibility that she would hurt someone without realizing it. Kate knows it bothers her deeply. 

“You loved hearing the music, and you made an amazing painting,” Kate says quietly, “it was just the two of us, you were sweet and funny and not a problem at all.” 

“Kate,” Tobin says, her voice nasally and muffled from her head still being in her hands, “I’m so scared,” 

“I know, I know,” Kate says, swaying her body as she holds her, gripping her tighter to herself, “we’ll make them stop, we’ll get them.” 

 

An hour and a half later, Kate lets Dr. Fisher and Robin in the house. Glancing out, Kate can see they drove separately. 

They come in quietly, following Kate as she leads them to the family room where Tobin is napping. Kate had held her until she stopped crying, then they slowly got dressed and had a quiet breakfast. Tobin didn’t ask her any further questions, leaving Kate to wonder what she remembers about last night. She caught her looking at her colorful hand a few   
times as they ate, but held back from asking her. 

“What time did you guys finally get to bed?” Doc asks, looking at Tobin. Samson nudges each of them for a greeting. 

“About four.” Kate answers, leaning down to wake her wife. 

“Hey,” Tobin greets sleepily, slowly sitting up on the couch, “how’s it going?” she asks, her voice gravelly. Kate hands her a water bottle. 

“Good,” Doc answers, “how are you feeling this morning?” 

Tobin doesn’t look at them, “Uh, super tired, a little headache,” she replies quietly. 

“Alright,” Doc answers, “would you be okay if we gave you some fluids? I think you’re still a little dehydrated and we’d also like to take some blood.” 

Tobin just nods, still looking down. 

Robin gets the metal stand set up and hooks the bag of fluids to it, going into her bag and retrieving some other items. Doc gets out her blood test kit. 

“Where should we do this?” Kate asks. 

“Can I sit here?” Doc asks, gesturing to the coffee table, Kate nods. Doc sits down across from Tobin, smiling softly when Tobin finally lifts her head up. 

“I’m going to pull three vials, okay?” she says, getting the tubes out and putting on a pair of latex gloves. Tobin nods, setting her head back on the couch. She glances over and Robin has everything laid out for the IV. 

Tobin winces as the needle goes in, seeing her blood turn the short line red, as Doc attaches the first tube. She bites her lip and shuts her eyes. Kate rubs her shoulder from where she stands behind the couch. 

Doc hands the three vials off to Robin who gives a short goodbye and heads out for the lab. Tobin opens her eyes to see Doc placing a Bandaid across her arm from where the needle was. 

“Now we’ll give you some fluids,” she states, scooting over to Tobin other arm that’s draped across the arm of the couch. She has no trouble finding the vein and gets the fluids going. 

They’re all quiet for a few minutes. 

“Do you want to talk about it?” Doc asks quietly. 

Tobin looks up at her, her face miserable. “How did this happen?” she questions, her voice trembling, clearly she’s struggling trying to keep it together. 

“Someone put a dermal patch on you before the game.” Doc states, “Like those pain ones we used for your back a couple of years ago?” 

Tobin nods. “Did I do anything stupid?” 

Kate comes around and slides in on the couch next to her. Tobin grabs her hand, holding it tightly. 

Doc shakes her head, “It hit you during the game, it totally looked like you were out of it from the heat.” She says nodding. “That’s what the Thorns statement was after the game and that’s what all players and staff were told.” 

Tobin looks at her hand, then raises it to show her, “What’s this?” 

Doc smiles, “We gave you markers so you could color and you decided your hand was better than using the paper.” 

“I must have been acting like an idiot,” Tobin mutters under her breath. She looks curiously at Doc, confusion on her face. “Why am I thinking about green when I see you? What is that?” 

Doc smiles widely at her, placing her hand on her knee, “You were seeing people’s auras last night, which is pretty cool. I’m green. Robin is blue.” 

Tobin turns to Kate, “You’re turquoise?” It’s slowly coming back to her. Kate nods and squeezes her hand. “You’re orange.” 

Tobin sighs. “Am I gonna be okay? Or have flashbacks or something?” 

“You might have a flashback or two, it’s different for each person.” Doc informs, “But you should be feeling better by tonight. No lasting issues from this. No practice for you tomorrow, just to be safe.” 

Tobin nods, looking down. 

Doc turns to Kate. “They think they found the person who dosed her on video. John will call you later with an update.” 

Kate nods as she strokes the back of Tobin’s hand. 

“I think I remember most of it.” Tobin says suddenly, surprising Kate and Doc. 

“Do you want to talk about it?” Doc asks, repeating her question from before. 

“I remember thinking how amazing everything was,” Tobin starts, “like, did you give me a strawberry?” she turns to Kate who nods at her. “I remember looking at it, thinking how awesome it was, each of those little pits on it, the hairs, everything.” 

“LSD raises your awareness of everything.” Doc nods. 

Tobin sighs, “I’m getting super tired,” she says, “is that normal?” 

Doc smiles, “Yes.” She says giving her a pat on her knee, “Kate says you two were up until about four this morning.” 

Tobin looks at Kate, her eyebrows raised, mouth open. 

“We hung out in the barn, listening to music and you were painting.” Kate informs. 

“Yeah,” Tobin nods slowly, shaking her head a little, “I kind of remember.” 

Doc stands up, “This bag will only take another half hour,” she says as she begins to put away the items she had out, “why don’t you both shut your eyes and nap.” 

“Thanks Doc,” Tobin murmurs as she shuts her eyes. 

Kate makes a move to get up, but Doc stops her. “You too.” 

Kate give her a small smile, “Wake me when it’s done, so I can lock up, okay?” 

Doc nods, moving herself to the kitchen table. Kate feels Tobin snuggling into her side, still holding her hand. They both close their eyes and they’re out. 

Kate swears it’s only minutes later when she feels the shake of her shoulder and sees Doc looking down at her. “All set.” She says quietly. 

Kate slowly moves away from Tobin who moans softly in her sleep as she leaves the couch to follow Doc out. 

“Take a good nap and then call John later, I texted him not to bother you until he’s hears from you.” Doc states as she opens the door, “Try to have Tobin do a little recovery if you can, maybe just some swimming? Other than that, just take it easy. Be lazy.” 

“Okay Doc,” Kate replies, her voice filled with sleep. 

Kate wrangles Tobin off the couch and gets her to bed, sliding in next to her, Tobin reaching for her. They bring their bodies together as they hold each other, sleeping overtaking them. 

 

 

Hours later, Kate awakes, alone in bed. Getting up quickly, she finds the Tobin in the kitchen, cooking away. 

“I’m starving,” Tobin declares, as she cooks. Kate can tell Tobin’s taken a couple of hits of weed, knowing she probably would to calm her nerves. 

“It smells amazing in here,” Kate says, sliding an arm around her waist as she steps closer, “what are you making?” 

“Veggies, steaks, baked potatoes, some shrimp.” Tobin grins and gives her a kiss. 

“I’ll get drinks, what do you want?” Kate asks as she moves to the fridge. 

“I’ll have a beer,” Tobin states, “I think I deserve one today.” 

“Can’t argue with that, asthore,” grabbing a bottle from the fridge and taking a water for herself.

Kate is also starving so she’s particularly happy that dinner is almost done. 

“How did you sleep?” she ask her. 

Tobin nods, taking the veggies out of the pan just as the oven timer goes off. “Pretty good,” she says, “actually, like the dead.” 

Kate smiles, “Same here.” 

They eat at the kitchen table, easily bantering back and forth. Tobin seems in pretty good spirits, and Kate asks her about it. 

“I guess, I just want to get past it?” Tobin sighs, “I mean, I really want to look at the painting and I do want to talk to you about last night, I want to know what happened and how I was acting.” 

“I took some videos of you last night, if you want to see it. Are you still foggy?” Kate asks as she takes a bite of steak. 

Tobin shakes her head as she chews, “No, I woke up feeling almost back to normal.” 

“Good,” Kate smiles, piercing a piece of shrimp. Tobin’s cooking has done nothing but improve of the last couple of years. 

“What do you say we clean up the kitchen and then we make our calls and then we can talk?” Tobin suggests. 

“How about we talk at the lake and you can do some recovery?” Kate counter offers. 

“Sounds good.” Tobin agrees, “I need to call my Mom and sisters.” 

“I need to talk to John.” Kate nods. 

“Did you tell anyone else?” Tobin asks, she’s curious. 

“Sinc, Emily, Linds, Kling, Alex, Allie.” Kate replies. 

“Okay,” Tobin says as she cuts another piece of steak, “Thanks for doing that, I know they’d be worried.” 

“Yeah,” Kate says, “This is so good.” 

Tobin smiles at her, “I’ll call those guys, too.” Kate nods. 

 

 

“I painted this?” Tobin turns to Kate for confirmation. “It’s, not, like, some twisted joke or something?” 

“No joke,” Kate confirms, “I have video proof.” She shakes her phone at her wife. 

Tobin stares at it. “You played Sixties music, didn’t you?” she says softly. 

“Uh huh,” Kate replies, wondering how this will go. Tobin’s memory of her episode has been trickling back to her since after dinner. They talked, Kate telling her everything that happened in the trainer’s room, the car and here at home. Tobin has refused to watch the videos yet, explaining she wasn’t ready. 

“I laid on the ground for awhile,” Tobin says, looking down at the drop cloth. She looks up at Kate and points to the painting. “I used my hands and fingers, didn’t I?” Kate nods. 

Tobin nods as she looks at the painting again. “That would explain why my hand is killing today.” 

“It is?” Kate asks, taking a step closer to her and lifting her hand up, “You didn’t say anything about it.” 

Tobin shrugs, “I thought I hurt it in the game,” she replies. 

“Tobin!” Kate exclaims, seeing the multiple slivers in her hand, “we should clean this out.” 

“When we go in, okay?” Tobin nods at her. 

“Okay,” Kate agrees. Kate’s curious as to what Tobin thinks about the painting. 

“It’s pretty trippy, huh?” Tobin gives her a small smile. 

“Well, you were when you painted it,” Kate decides to test the waters with a small joke. 

“I’ll bet,” Tobin actually laughs. “Thank you for keeping me safe. I know you had to be worried like crazy.” She slides her arm around Kate and pulls her tight next to her. 

“I was until we knew what you were on,” Kate admits, “then, I just sat back and let you have a good trip.” 

Tobin stares at her, her mouth open, “Have a good trip?” she says, “There was a postcard…” 

Kate nods, “Yes, we think your stalker did this.” She confirms. 

“Fuck,” Tobin swears under her breath. 

“John thinks he’s identified who it was during the meet and greet,” Kate explains, “ and they’re trying to match photos with the people they have traveling to the away games.” 

“Okay, that’s a start,” Tobin admits, nodding. 

 

 

They’re in bed, Tobin with her iPad and Kate reading her book. 

“You’re playing tomorrow, right?” Tobin asks. 

“If you feel okay I was going to.” Kate replies, looking over at her. She has a softball game tomorrow night. 

“I want to come watch,” Tobin smiles. 

“Okay,” Kate smiles, “good. Jake is coming to watch.” 

“Cool, I’ll text him to meet up.” Tobin grins. 

 

“She’s gonna hit one out,” Jake says, leaning over to speak quietly. They’re sitting on the back row of the bleachers at Kate’s game. 

“Oh yeah,” Tobin grins. Jake nods. 

“She’s been toying with their pitcher all night.” He says sagely. 

It’s the bottom of the seventh and Kate’s team is down by one run. Liz is on second base, having doubled as the lead off hitter of the inning. They’re playing slow pitch softball, the pitcher throwing underhand, lofting the ball with a high arc. All night Kate has been hitting soft fly balls from chest high pitches letting them drop into the corners or left center for singles. 

She’s the designated hitter in this game tonight, not playing the field but just coming up to bat. As she steps into the box, Tobin watches with rapt attention how Kate dugs her back foot into the dirt, scuffing it in for better grip. 

The third pitch drops in low and shirt and Kate swings hard, the bat making this sweet dinging noise as the ball flies from it, a creeping line drive that continues to elevate until it’s over the fence. Kate slows to a trot as she rounds first base, smiling as her team yells out for joy with the walk off homerun. 

They meet her at homeplate, waiting for her to step on it until they mob her with hits to her helmet, hugs and high fives. 

They line up and shake hands with the opposing team and then make their way to their dugout. Laughing and joking are heard, as the players sort through their gear, packing up. 

It was a late game tonight, starting at nine o’clock so they aren’t going out after with most of them having to work the next morning. Tobin and Jake leave their seats to hangout near the dugout, hearing Kate laugh at one of her teammates jokes.

“Hey, killer,” Tobin says as Kate approaches, kissing her softly, “that was some shot.” 

Kate grins, her cheeks flushed from the het and victory. “Yeah, I was waiting for that pitch all night.” She says as she hugs Jake. 

“I called it,” Jake says, holding his hand up for a high five. Kate smacks his hand. “Thanks for coming,” she says, kissing his cheek. 

“The last at bat was worth it.” He smiles. “Lunch this week?” Kate nods. 

“Tobin?” He says, “Lunch this week?” 

Tobin thinks, “If it’s late, like two?” She says, looking at Kate. Kate and Jake both nod, knowing Tobin’s practice schedule. 

“See ya’s later,” Jake announces, hugging each of them and heading to his motorcycle. 

“YO!” Liz yells as she approaches, “How’s it going?” she grins at them. 

“Great game,” Tobin smiles, giving her knuckle punch. Liz drapes an arm over Kate’s shoulders, “This one here,” she says, poking Kate in the ribs, “MVP of the game.” 

“Nah,” Tobin says, smirking, “she only batted, didn’t play the field.” 

“She hit a homerun to win the game.” Liz argues, smiling, knowing Tobin’s teasing Kate. 

“I don’t know,” she says, shaking her head, “seemed like she was pretty one dimensional.” 

Liz snorts and Kate laughs, “I’ll show you one dimensional if you keep talking,” she warns with a chuckle. 

Tobin smiles big, eyes crinkling, “You were both terrific tonight,” she says sincerely. 

“Thanks for coming out,” Liz says, giving her a hug. She opts not to ask Tobin how’s she’s doing, knowing it’s a sensitive subject. “Kick the Breakers ass this week!” 

“I’ll do my best,” Tobin nods with a smile. She feels Kate take her hand. 

“We’re heading out,” Kate says, tugging on Tobin’s hand. 

“Oh, someone’s ready for their recovery session?” Tobin jokes. 

“Oh, that’s what you’re calling it these days?” Liz laughs as she waves goodbye. Kate’s face turns red as Tobin laughs. 

“You’re an asshole,” she says kissing her cheek.

“True,” Tobin nods with a giggle as they walk to her car. 

Kate looks at her, “Just for that, you’re going to do what I want tonight,” 

“Oh, like that’s punishment,” Tobin says sarcastically. 

Kate raises her eyebrows at her, giving her a death look. 

Tobin leans Kate against up the car, their bodies touching. “I’ll touch you wherever you want,” Tobin says, kissing her softly, “I’ll lick you where you want,” she kisses her again, “and I’ll fuck you where you want.” She opens the door, looking at her hungrily, “You just tell me what you want and I’ll do anything, babe.”

 

They don’t even make it to the bedroom when they get home, in fact, Tobin takes her on the deck, making Kate cry out as she cums leaning against the deck rail.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The trip to Boston is a disaster. Kate and Tobin have a serious discussion about having a baby.

The Thorns easily win their next game, Tobin feeling off on the pitch her first practice back, but coming into full form by game day. She’s on a tear, racking up assists and scoring as well, now leading the league in the assist category, threatening to break her own record.

She’s been leery of the training staff, she’s trying hard not to be suspicious of any of them, but it’s hard. She shies away from Donna and Mikey until Robin is free to tape her ankle. Kling picked up on it first, sensing Tobin’s distress as they both hopped on tables and Mikey went to Tobin. When Robin situated herself in front of Kling, she made eye contact with her and tilted her head towards Tobin. 

“Yo, Mikey!” Kling calls out, “Come do me, I want to talk to you.” She says, Robin nodding knowingly as she moved towards Tobin. 

 

Kate and John are working with the detectives from PPB. They don’t have a name on her yet, but they put her photo in the face recognition system at the Park, and she’ll be flagged if caught there again. The Police are still working with the airlines, checking flights in and out of Portland that match the away games, seeing if they can get any suspects. So right now, they’ve increased the security detail who will travel with the team, Gavin signing off on it immediately. The team has been informed of a possible stalker and John reviews the safety procedures and outlines the plan of action to keep them safe. 

Tobin squirmed through the meeting, feeling uncomfortable and distressed at putting her team in possible harm’s way. She’s self-conscious about the whole thing, hating the attention it brings to herself. Sinc and Allie sit next to her, nudging her shoulder and giving her encouragement. 

During the week Kate receives a flagged note addressed to Tobin with just a splatter of color on it. Curious, but not very threatening. She files with the others, making a copy and sending the original to John to get to the detectives.

Kate is getting her bloodwork done once a week as she takes the shots for her upcoming IVF treatment. She’s in and out of the office going to the doctor at the clinic, Tobin joining when time allows. She won’t be traveling on the upcoming trip to Boston which makes her tense. 

Tobin surprises her by bringing it up, telling her she plans to stick around the hotel, not go out much and always be with a group. Tobin’s feels guilty that Kate feels bad, and it’s stressing her out not to be able to comfort her. 

Kate realizes this as she lays next to Tobin who tosses and turns the night before they leave, knowing she’s apprehensive about traveling. Kate moves to hold her, feeling her body relax from her touch. She lays there for awhile, her thoughts troubling her before sleep finds her. 

 

The game against Boston will be tough, the Breakers have given the Thorns fits this season. Winning this game would capture the Shield for the Thorns and every player is laser focused on the match. It’s a Friday night match, which Kate is grateful for, Tobin being home the next day and having an easy weekend. Tobin will go with her on Monday morning to see the doctor and get a timeline of when they can do the insemination procedure. They both know Kate’s levels need to be at a specific spot so this is just an outline. 

On Thursday John calls Kate to inform her that the lab was able to get some female DNA from the dermal patch that was placed on Tobin’s shoulder. The detectives were bringing the new evidence to DA in hopes they could further their investigation. Kate feels relieved by the news, John assuring her the security is tight and nothing will happen during the trip. 

Sinc and Tobin are rooming together for the trip, enjoying each other’s company. Tobin tells her they are doing round two of IVF and her face lights up with excitement. She's already told Allie.

“Oh, I’m so happy for you!” she says excitedly, “When will it happen?” 

“When Kate’s levels are right,” Tobin explains, “it should be soon. We see the doctor on Monday to get an idea.” 

Sinc hugs her, “I’ll pray that all goes well,” she says giving her a squeeze. “We should head down to meet everyone for dinner.”

Tobin looks at her watch, “Oh, shit!” she mutters, “we’re late!” 

They go to an Italian restaurant to fill up on pasta and come back after laughing about Kling’s dating adventures. Kling is following them telling them how she took someone out to a vegan restaurant not knowing she was the daughter of cattle ranchers. 

“She just glared at me through the whole meal,” Kling laughs, “I mean, like, burning holes into my soul glares.” 

“Dude, that’s too bad,” Tobin shakes her head as she keys the door to their room open, opening it and turning to look back as she walks in, “That’s just your luck,” she laughs. 

She turns to see the walls splattered with an optic green color. She takes a step back, bumping into Sinc. 

“What the fuck?” she says, looking around. Sinc moves past her, moving quickly to the bathroom, ripping the shower curtain back, then exiting to look into the closet and then at the broken sliding door of their small balcony. They were on the fourth floor. 

“Motherfucker!” Sinc roars, slamming her hand against the wall. She turns to see Tobin looking at her bed. 

Her Thorns jersey was laid out on top of the comforter, splattered with paint from a paintball gun. She looks up quickly, backing out of the room, bumping her shoulder hard on the door jamb in her haste to leave. Kling follows her, seeing Emily and Kat in the hall looking concerned at Tobin stumbling down the hallway. Kling races to catch up. 

“Dude, you okay?” she asks, holding onto Tobin’s shoulder. 

“What the fuck?” Tobin repeats, a shaky hand running through her hair. 

They hear Sinc shouting to Emily to get John. 

“Dude, you should sit down,” Kling says, guiding Tobin to the small sofa near the elevator bank, “you’re pretty pale.” 

Tobin nods and slowly sits down. She’s trying to fight the tears, but it’s no use. There’s a definite connection to this and Allison and Tony, she can’t figure it out. 

She’s concentrating on her breathing, blocking out the running of feet down the hall and the yelling from John, directing other staff members. 

Lindsey brings a water bottle to Tobin and takes it with a shaky hand. She lowers it before she spills all over herself. 

She flinches when she hears the dig of the elevators, Kling and Lindsey straightening up and looking defensive, only to relax when they see it’s hotel security. 

Sonnet makes her way over to sit next to Tobin, patting her thigh. She doesn’t say anything, just offers her presence, which Tobin appreciates. After a few minutes, Tobin leans into her, and she puts her arm around her shoulders. 

More people are coming up through the elevator and Sonnet suddenly suggests that they should go to her room. She gives Tobin a hand getting up, and they make their way down the hallway. Kling is on her phone, talking to someone quietly, trailing behind them. 

“Thanks,” Tobin says quietly as they enter her room, slowly looking around. Lindsey darts into the bathroom, checking behind the shower. Then she opens the closet and checks the patio. 

“No one is here,” she states. 

Tobin is pacing in the small room, rubbing her temples with her fingers. 

They hear a knock and Lindsey’s at the door, opening it cautiously and then letting in Allie. Allie wraps Tobin in hug. They don’t speak, but Tobin begins to cry in frustration. 

“Who’s doing this?” she cries out loud. She breaks from Allie to continue pacing. “What do they want from me?” she looks up at Allie. 

“I don’t know,” she says quietly, feeling helpless. 

Tobin glances at those around her, throwing herself down in the only chair. Her knee is bouncing and she’s gripping the arms on the chair. 

“I feel like I’m losing it,” She says, her head down. 

“Hey, easy there, Nails,” Sonnet says, using the new nickname they have given Tobin because of her toughness, “we’re won’t let you lose it. We’re here for you.” 

“How the fuck do they keep doing this?” Tobin shouts, arms flailing. “It’s like something happens every away trip!” she exclaims angrily. She’s beyond frustrated. 

Another knock diverts their attention. Lindsey lets in John followed by Mark and Robin. They see Tobin scowling, sitting in the corner, arms now crossed, leg still bouncing. 

As soon as Tobin sees John she bolts out of the chair, striding towards him. “How the fuck did this happen?” she shouts angrily. “How did they get in our room?” She gestures to Sinc who has just slipped in. 

John puts his hands out in a calming gesture, “I don’t know,” he says, softly, calmly, “but we’ll find out and it won’t happen again.” 

Tobin sees the pleading look on his face, the sorrow and his own anger that this has happened, “I’m sorry,” he says, shoulders slumping. 

Tobin begins to cry in frustration, leaning her left hand on the wall and pounding her right hand loudly on the wall with her right one. Everyone watches, unsure what to do. 

Allie comes in next to her, laying a hand on her shoulder, Tobin flinching then seeing her. She curls into Allie’s arms, sobbing, letting go of her anger, feeling so helpless. 

“I feel like I’m losing my mind,” the room hears Tobin sob, shuddering in her arms. 

Allie looks at those assembled, gesturing with her head to the door, mouthing the word Valium to Robin. Robin nods and she’s out the door, with the others trailing behind. Sinc gestures to Emily and Lindsey and they leave, motioning to Allie they will be back. 

Allie leads Tobin to the bed, holding her tightly, murmuring in her ear that everything will be okay. “Kate told me they think they know who it is,” she says softly, “they’re working with the Police to bring her in.” 

Tobin’s still wound up and not hearing her, crying hard on her shoulder. Allie can make out a little of what she’s trying to say, but can’t understand it all. 

“Alright, just let it out,” she soothes, her own heart aching for Tobin going through this. After this new round of stalking for Tobin, Allie has had a wake up call. She’s changed her social media habits, especially after Kate sat her down and showed her some of the notes she was receiving at the Providence Park. It makes her bitter that some of the fans who inspire them to play can act this way towards them. Tobin in particular. 

She holds the back of Tobin’s head, “Just take some deep breaths and relax,” she croons, “I’m here, I won’t go anywhere,” She feels Tobin nod her head, taking a deep breath and releasing it slowly. “That’s it,” she encourages, remembering the training they received from Jen, Tobin’s therapist about helping her with panic attacks, “just keep doing that,” 

Her phone goes off, and reaches into her back pocket to look to see the caller. It’s Kate. 

“It’s Kate,” she announces as she answers. 

“Hey Kate,” she says quietly, wondering why she would be calling. 

“Is Tobin okay?” Kate’s sleepy voice asks. “I woke up feeling like something bad happened, is she alright?” 

Allie looks over and sees Tobin wiping her eyes, “Yeah, something happened. She’s right here next to me, she’s okay.” 

“What happened now?” Kate asks, her voice full of fear. 

Allie explains what how Tobin found her room and what was done to it. Kate listens quietly, not interjecting how pissed off she was feeling, just letting Allie tell her what occurred. 

“Can I speak with her?” Kate asks quietly, fearing how Tobin reacted. 

“Yeah, hang on,” she says, handing the phone to Tobin. 

“Hey,” she greets, her voice nasally and uneven. 

Allie moves to get up but Tobin clamps her fingers around her forearm holding her in place. 

“I think I scared John,” she says quietly, “I kinda had a meltdown and I yelled at him,” she says miserably, “I should find him and apologize.” 

“I’m sure he understands you were upset,” Kate comforts, “don’t let it bother you too much.” 

Tobin sighs, “Kate,” she says, her voice trembling, “someone got into me and Sinc’s room during dinner and paintballed the whole thing.” She hears Kate gasp. “They, they, put one of my jerseys on the bed and shot it up.” 

“Oh no!” Kate exclaims, “Are you okay?” 

“Yeah,” Tobin replies, still shaky from it, “I’m scared and just pissed. Why does this keep happening?” 

“I don’t know, sweetheart,” Kate says gently, “but everyone is trying to find out and stop it.” 

“I know,” Tobin says quietly, “it just seems like every time something like this happens, I feel like it’s chipping away from me, you know?” 

“I do know, asthore,” Kate agrees, “I see it. I do.” 

“Kate,” Tobin’s voice is uneven, “Kate, I just…” she begins to cry. She let’s go of Allie’s arm, bringing her hand to cover her eyes. 

“Mavourneen,” Kate soothes, not knowing how to comfort her over the phone, “sweetheart, please calm down, you’re safe now,” she has tears in her eyes as well. 

Allie gently takes the phone from Tobin’s hand, bringing it to her ear, “Kate?” she says, her voice raspy from her emotions, “We’ll take care of her, okay?” 

“Please Allie, please don’t let her be upset,” Kate cries, feeling awful. 

“We got it, she’ll stay with me and Sonnet,” she says, holding Tobin close, she turns to her, “Tobin, say goodnight to Kate, okay?” 

With a shaky hand Tobin takes the phone, “I love you,” she cries, “I miss you,”

“I miss you,” Kate says quietly, getting back under control to be strong for her wife, “go out there and kick some ass okay? You play like a champ, alright? Then come home to me.” 

“I will,” Tobin says, her voice becoming more even, “I will, goodnight,” 

“Goodnight, Mavourneen,” Kate says, “I love you, get some sleep.” 

They end the call, Tobin wiping her face, looking around to find some Kleenex. She gets a few tissues from the bathroom, blowing her nose and washing her face. 

She looks at Allie when she reenters the room, “Sorry for dragging you through this,” she says quietly. 

Allie makes a face, “Harry, where you go, I go. Don’t worry about it.” 

There’s a knock at the door and Tobin answers, letting Sinc, Emily, Kling and Lindsey in. Kling and Emily are holding Tobin’s suitcase and backpack, Sinc drops her stuff on the floor. 

“They won’t let us use the room, obviously,” Sinc says, “so I’m bunking with Kat and Dagny.” 

Tobin nods, “Uh, how would you guys feel about a trip to Walgreens?” she asks. There’s one only a block away from the hotel. 

They all look at her curiously. “I don’t want to use any of my stuff,” she says, rubbing the back of her neck, “uh, just in case they, uh, fucked with it, you know?” 

“Oh, man,” Sinc says, looking down at her bags, “I didn’t think of that.” 

“Tobs,” Kling states, “I don’t think John will want to let you leave.” She says moving next to her. “Why don’t we go through your stuff and we’ll get it for you?” 

Tobin nods, knowing she’s most likely correct. “Yeah,” she says, “that’s a good idea.”

They open up their bags, lining up the items they want to replace. Kling takes a photo of Tobin’s items and Sinc does hers as well. 

“We’ll be back soon, okay?” Emily says, “Is there anything else we can get you?” 

Tobin shrugs, “I’m good, thanks so much for going. I really appreciate it.” She hands her credit card to Kling. 

Tobin changes into some sleepwear, just a pair of shirts and a t-shirt when there’s another knock at the door. It’s Robin. 

“Hey Tobin,” she says, giving her a small smile, “uh, Doc thought you should take this tonight, okay? We want to make sure you get some rest.” She hands her a pill. 

Tobin nods, “Yeah, okay.” she says. 

“Is there anything I can get you? Cookies? Some ice cream?” Robin asks, offering some contraband to make her feel better. 

Tobin smiles, “I’m good, but thanks,” she says, “thanks for everything.” 

As Robin turns to leave, Tobin speaks, “Hey Robin?” she asks quietly, “If you see John, could you tell him I’m super sorry for snapping at him? I feel awful about that.” She looks at her, full of remorse. 

Robin nods, “He knows, but I’ll tell him.” She says warmly, “Try to rest, okay?” 

Tobin nods as the door closes. 

“I’d have taken a cookie, you know,” Allie sasses. “Way to help a sister out,” she grins. 

Tobin throws a pillow at her, “Shut up Harry!” she laughs. 

The group returns from their Walgreens adventure, telling Tobin how they were stopped by John on the way out, questioning them about where they were going. He accompanied them on their trip, paying for everything, even the snacks they snuck in, turning a blind eye to the goodies. 

They end up snacking on candy and some chips while talking and joking around until curfew and then Kling, Lindsey and Sinc depart, leaving Sonnet with Tobin and Allie. 

They get ready for bed, Tobin opening all the packaging of her contact solution, toothpaste and new toothbrush, deodorant, face wash, and other items. 

Tobin’s standing at the bedside, holding her bottle of water and the Valium. Staring at it. 

“What’s up, Har?” Allie asks quietly. Emily is in the bathroom brushing her teeth. 

Tobin looks at her, “You’ll stay here, right?” she asks, “Until I wake up from this?” 

Allie nods, understanding Tobin doesn’t want to take it if she’s alone and defenseless. “I’ll be right here.”

Tobin nods and takes the Valium and heads to the bed. 

They settle in and Allie wraps her arm around Tobin, spooning her in the small bed. 

 

Kate watches with Liz and Jen as the Thorns battle the Breakers. It’s a tough match, but Kate can tell right away that Tobin is off her game. Her corners aren’t floating, her passes aren’t always connecting, she’s losing the ball from the defenders. She can see how frustrated she is. 

In the second half, Tobin does float a corner kick into the box connecting with Lindsey’s head who scores on her perfectly placed header. The Thorns lead, 1-0. Tobin is still struggling with her game, getting knocked over, beaten to the ball, and beginning to give some hard tackles. 

Her frustration is evident and in the sixtieth minute, she forcefully knocks over one of the Breakers, sending her tumbling to the ground and earning herself a yellow card. Knowing that next week is a playoff game, Mark signals a sub to take her out of the game. Kate sees as she slowly trots off, shoulders slumped to the sideline, giving Mallory Weber a high five on her way to the bench. 

Play resumes and five minutes later the camera catches on Tobin on the bench, seated with her head forward, a towel draped over it. From the way Tobin’s back is shuddering, Kate can see she’s crying, Robin next to her with a hand on her back. 

The Thorns win the match and the Shield, Kate cringing seeing how subdued Tobin is in her celebrating with the team. When the players receive their medals, Kate watches as Tobin slinks to the back of the stage with the other players, not up in front with the veterans. During the photos, she has a grin on her face, but not that signature smile that makes Kate’s heart flip flop in her chest. 

Liz and Jen comment on how unhappy she looks and Kate fills them in on happened the night before. They sit and discuss it, Kate sharing her worries to her two best friends as the coverage of the match ends. 

 

Kate waits, leaning against her car in the Players’ Lot, waiting for the bus to pull in from the airport. She hears the familiar rumble as the bus is guided in by the security staff. She watches as the players, coaches and staff filter out, grabbing luggage and heading to their vehicles. 

She watches as Tobin trudges towards her, backpack slung over one shoulder, pulling her suitcase, head down, shoulders slumped. She looks up at Kate as she nears and Kate can see she’s struggling, eyes tired, lower lip quivering. 

She crashes into Kate, her backpack sliding off her shoulder, dropping to the ground, her suitcase abandoned a few feet behind her. She cries into Kate’s shoulder, shuddering as she let’s go in her arms. Kate holds her and sees the concern etched on the faces of players and coaches alike as they move to their cars. She nods at Allie, then closes her eyes as she strokes the back of Tobin’s head. 

When Tobin calms down and her tears become less and the breathing returns to normal, Kate opens the passenger door, motioning for her to get in the car. She throws the backpack and suitcase in the trunk and slides in the car, keying the ignition. Tobin’s hand snakes across to grab hers after she gets the car in drive and they holds hands, not speaking during the drive home. 

Once at the house, Kate walks Tobin through the house with Samson, showing the windows are shut, doors are locked and then putting her bed in the bedroom. She stays with her until she falls asleep and then gets up to call John and speak about the trip. 

John explains how they think the person got into Tobin and Sinc’s room, crossing over a few balconies to break into her it. He’s not sure how they knew the room though. He then informs her they are narrowing the focus of the investigation into two of the women, the cops are still trying to get permission to bring them in for questioning. He says that in the next few days, they should sit down with Tobin and show the photos of the possible stalker. 

After she checks in with a few others, making sure she speaks with Perry and Cindy to inform them of this latest incident. 

She stretches out on the couch in the family room, a Cubs game on in the background, thinking about how she should begin her conversation with her wife when she gets up. She closes her eyes to nap when she hears a few thumps from the front of the house and then running, a loud crash and Tobin muttering. 

She flies off the couch to the living room, scanning her eyes until she sees Tobin, she’s in the corner behind a knocked over end table, lamp on the floor, glass from the lightbulb scattered across the floor. 

Tobin is cowering in terror, hands over her head, scrunched up, knees to her chest, breathing heavy and muttering but Kate can’t understand her.

“Tobin!” she yells out loudly, “Where are you?” 

She doesn’t answer, Kate takes a step closer, mindful of the broken glass. Samson is sitting near looking concerned. 

“Tobin!” Kate yells louder, seeing her head turn to her. Her eyes are wide, filled with fear. “You’re having a nightmare.” She says loudly, “Where are you?” Tobin’s chest is shuddering as she looks around the room, slowly taking in her surroundings. Kate watches as she blinks rapidly, her shoulders slumping as she begins to regain her senses. 

“Living room,” Tobin whispers, dropping her hands from her head, leaning back on the wall. She looks up at Kate, confusion and sadness on her face. 

“You just got back from Boston,” Kate says softly, taking a few steps closer, “you were napping and had a nightmare, you’re at home, you’re safe.” 

Tobin nods, her throat working against the tears that are threatening to overtake her again. She notices the end table, then the lamp and looks fearfully at Kate. “I didn’t hurt you, did I?” she questions, her voice breaking. 

“No, asthore,” Kate says, pulling the table away so she can kneel next to her, “you came out here and knocked this over, I just came out from the back of the house.” She doesn’t touch her yet, wanting to make sure Tobin was lucid. 

Kate sees that Tobin’s leg is scratched, it must have caught on the corner of the end table when it got knocked over. 

“Why am I on the ground?” Tobin asks, sniffling. 

“I don’t know, sweetheart,” Kate replies gently, “But will you just sit here for a minute while I clean the glass up? You’re barefoot and I don’t want you to cut your feet,” she gives her a small smile. 

Tobin nods, looking around the destruction she created. 

Kate gets the broom and dustpan, shooing Samson out of the room, cleaning up quickly and tossing the shattered bulb’s remains into the trash. She returns to the living room with a washcloth and a bandage. 

“Here, Mavourneen,” she offers her the cloth, “wipe your face,” she instructs. 

Tobin does as she’s told, sitting up straighter and stretching her legs out. Kate takes the cloth from her when she’s done, folding a corner and gently wiping the blood from the side of her thigh and placing the bandage on it. Tobin is confused as to how she got cut. 

“Maybe the end of the table,” Kate explains. 

Tobin looks at her with dull eyes, she looks broken. “I was being chased in the woods again,” she says lowly, “he was shooting at me again.” 

Kate nods, “You’re safe now, Mavourneen,” she says, as Tobin leans into her. They sit there for ten minutes until Tobin complains about her back hurting against the wall. They get up slowly Tobin holding onto Kate. 

Kate holds her, trying to keep it together for herself as well. 

“Kate?” Tobin asks, her muffled against Kate’s neck, she pulls back to look at her, “First the knife, then the drugs, now the paintballs. Kate, do you think they’re going to kidnap me?” 

Kate’s looking into Tobin’s eyes, seeing the fear, the uncertainty, the tiredness. She shakes her head, “We’ll do our best to stop them before they can do anything else to you.” 

Kate makes sure her voice is confident, but inside, she’s just as scared, unsure and tired of this as Tobin is. 

 

 

It’s later in the evening with Kate and Tobin in bed. They’re both reading and Kate realizes Tobin hasn’t turned her page in over thirty minutes. She’s about to say something when Tobin turns to her. 

“Should we really be trying to have a baby when there’s some crazy person out there doing this stuff?” she asks her, looking at her intently. Before Kate can formulate a response, Tobin continues. “Should we really be having a kid when I’m a complete mess? Going to sleep and then wandering around the house, not aware of what I’m doing?” Kate can see the tears forming in her eyes. “What if I’d hurt you? What if I hurt the baby?” she says, her chin quivering. 

She’s trying to hard to control herself but she’s so damn scared and doesn’t know what to do. She runs a hand through her hair, swallowing roughly, her throat dry, scared of what Kate might say. There’s a fear that lingers with her every day something new happens and that is that Kate will grow tired of protecting her and handling her mental issues. 

She knows Kate loves her, she does, but Kate doesn’t deserve to be a babysitter when Tobin can’t handle her emotions. 

Kate looks at her, seeing the pain in her eyes. She shifts so she’s facing her, rolling on her side, watching Tobin drop down as well, both of them leaning their heads on their hands. 

“I want to have your baby.” Kate says, reaching over to place Tobin’s hair behind her ear, letting her hand linger on Tobin’s jaw. “Do you want to have a baby with me?” she asks her softly. 

“You know I do,” Tobin replies with a nod. 

“Alright, then,” Kate smiles, “so let’s try to have this baby. We’ll let the Police and other investigators catch this woman. They’re close. Very close. Okay?” She looks at her wife, trying to read her thoughts. “I know you’re scared about what is going on. I am too. Bu we’ll get through it.” 

Tobin leans into her touch, closing her eyes for a moment. 

“Kate, I want this, I do,” she says, “but what if something really bad happens?” 

“We’ll do everything we can to make sure it doesn’t.” 

“But, I’m like, a mental case,” she says, looking down. 

“Tobin, you’re not going to be feeling this forever, you know.” Kate sighs, moving her hand to stroke Tobin’s upper arm, “You’re reacting to the fucking asshole who’s mocking what happened to you before. That what’s making this worse, because it’s triggering you in ways you can’t prepare for right now.” 

Tobin nods. 

“So, let’s make an appointment to see Jen, maybe have you get hypnotized again, do some heavy work with her and get back on track?” Kate suggests. “This will probably be over before I even get pregnant.” 

“I just don’t want anything to happen to you or the baby, from the psycho,” Tobin mumbles, “or me,” reaching up to take Kate’s hand on hers. 

Kate squeezes her hand, “We can’t control what that woman will do, so let’s control what we can- how you react to it, okay?” 

Tobin nods, “I’ll call Jen tomorrow.” 

“Good.” 

They lay there looking at each other. 

“You’ll call Jen tomorrow morning, get the first appointment you can and get started on your triggers again, alright?” Kate softly, slowly rubbing her hand on Tobin’s arm. 

“Yeah,” Tobin responds, taking a deep breath. “I’m sorry about the lamp.” 

Kate snorts, “I don’t care about a stupid lamp,” she says, leaning forward to kiss her gently, “it was just the bulb anyway, the shade and base are fine.” 

“I don’t want you to worry about me,” Tobin whispers.

“I’m always going to worry about you, Mavourneen,” Kate says, smiling at her, “I’m your wife and I’m Irish, we’re great worriers.” 

“Yeah, but,” Tobin starts, but Kate brings two fingers over to cover her lips. 

“We’ll get through this, just like we did before.” Kate says, her voice strong and confident. “You’re going to win the semis and then the Final and we’ll be fine.” 

“But, Kate, I’m just scared,” Tobin says, “what if this crazy person starts hurting other people?”

“We’ve got security in place, it’s better than before.” Kate soothes, “Everyone will be okay, okay?” 

Tobin nods and kisses her. “Okay, I trust you.” 

Kate smiles, “Now, are you ready to have a baby, Mrs. Doyle Heath?” 

Tobin smiles at her, “Yes, I am, Mrs. Doyle Heath.” She slides on her back, still holding Kate’s hand and kissing it softly. She turns her head to look at her, there’s a glimmer in her eye. 

“You know,” she says, a small smirk forming on her face, “I read in one of the baby books that new parents don’t have much time for intimacy right after the baby is born.” 

“Oh really?” Kate questions, a smirk playing on her face as she slides over to lay on top of her, “So,” she says, kissing her deeply, “we should load up on that now, huh?” 

Kate feels Tobin’s hand roaming down her back and finding her ass, squeezing it and pressing her against her body, “Yeah, we should. Those books aren’t wrong, you know.”


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Another incident at an away game make Tobin even more unnerved. The Police are close to catching the stalker, will it be in time for the Final or will something happen then?

Monday morning finds Tobin and Kate sitting the waiting room at the IVF clinic. Tobin’s leg is bouncing, just like every time she is in a waiting room. Kate sets her hand on Tobin’s leg and she stops bouncing. Kate continues to scroll through her phone. 

Soon Tobin’s drumming her fingers along her other leg, tapping her foot. 

“Tobin!” Kate hisses, she’s nervous too, not knowing exactly what the Doctor is going to say. There’s a chance, a small one, that her blood levels will reveal that she’s not ready to carry. She doesn’t want to think about that, but tappy sitting next to her isn’t helping. 

Tobin side eyes her and stops moving, interlocking her fingers in her lap. 

“Look at your phone or something!” Kate whispers. 

“What if my eggs aren’t good? What if they can’t use them?” Tobin leans over to whisper. 

Kate looks at her, realizing she’s just as nervous but for different reasons.

“We’ll cross that bridge if we get there.” Kate whispers back. 

Tobin rests a hand on Kate’s lap, squeezing her thigh and leaving her hand there. It calms Kate, the touch of her wife. She takes a deep breath and sighs as she lets it out. Positive mental attitude, she repeats in her head. Looking up to see Tobin looking at her curiously. She arches her eyebrows at her and smiles, it’s an easy smile, one that shows she’s relaxing. Kate smiles back at her and raises her eyebrows. 

Kate’s name is called and they follow the nurse onto the room. Tobin bumps her elbow, “Are you ready for this, champ?” 

“Are you, Nails?” Kate responds as Tobin laughs, “Bring it on wife!” she says, smiling as they enter the office. 

 

Tobin’s calling Mark as soon as they leave the Doctor’s office. 

“Tobin! What’s up?” Mark greets. 

“Hey, Mark?” Tobin greets. “Uh, remember that convo we had where I said there’s a slight chance I might be late to practice this week?” she says, her voice rising higher as she finishes the sentence. They slide into Tobin’s car, she insisting on driving for some reason. 

“Yeah, that one.” She says, nodding even though she’s not FaceTiming him. “Uh, next Tuesday, in fact.” 

She listens, chewing on the inside of her cheek. Then she states nodding. “Oh, that’s awesome! I didn’t look at my emails yet today.” She’s smiling. 

“Okay, but maybe a few minutes, alright?” She asks. 

She’s grinning at Kate as she listens. “Okay, thanks! I’ll see you tomorrow.” 

She leans over and kisses Kate. “Practice is late next Tuesday with an optional yoga session in the morning. I won’t be missing anything.” She smiles. 

Kate knows that being late or missing practices can sometimes result in not starting the next game. She knows Mark would make an exception for her, she was one of the leaders on the team. But Tobin doesn’t use that in her favor, she truly respects her teammates and coaches so much, that she would sit out just like a rookie. She treats this job as a gift, one that she feels should never be taken advantage of. 

“Awesome!” Kate grins. 

Tobin drives them to Providence Park so she can get her recovery done and Kate can do some paperwork while she waits for her. 

A couple of hours later, Tobin is sitting next to Kate’s desk when John walks in, clearly surprised to see them both there. 

Tobin is up and instantly out of her chair, facing John, looking apologetic. “I’m very sorry for how I acted in Boston. I really didn’t mean to yell at you.” 

John smiles and put a hand on Tobin’s shoulder, giving it a squeeze, “No worries, I actually was impressed that it didn’t happen sooner. I know I would have reacted badly so much sooner.” 

Tobin looks down, nodding. 

“Tobin, we’ve gotten close over the last few years, so know I don’t say this lightly. You carry yourself with such grace and dignity throughout these events and do your best to hold it together and not rile up others. I appreciate how you handle this, I appreciate your patience, I know it can’t be easy and I’m sorry.” 

“Thanks John,” Tobin says, blushing a little. 

“Kate!” John greets, “how’s it going?” he knows where they were coming from. 

Kate smiles, “Gonna be late next Tuesday,” she says, “we’re doing it in the morning.” She says and then slaps Tobin who breaks into laughter. 

“Not like that! You asshole!” she says, swatting at her. Tobin dodges her and keeps laughing. Kate looks at John, frowning, “I didn’t mean it that way.” 

John laughs, “You’re doing the IVF then?” he asks. She nods. 

“Take the day,” he says, “You’re gonna feel a little crappy after it. We’ve got it under control here. I’ll see you Wednesday.” 

“Thanks John!” Kate calls out as he walks out, waving to them. 

“Thanks John!” Tobin calls out, mimicking Kate and receiving a flurry of slaps from her. 

Tobin giggles and asks her if she’s done and they can leave. Kate smirks at her and she’s going to make her wait until four, just because. 

Tobin sits in her chair, fake pouting but her eyes are shining. She looks down at her phone, and enters another world. Kate slaps her arm, standing next to her, having called her name twice. 

“Let’s go!” she urges, yanking Tobin from her chair. Tobin laughs as she’s being pulled along. 

 

 

They’re playing Sky Blue at Yurcak Field on the campus of Rutgers University. Tobin looks around campus as they get off the bus, always liking it here, the campus seemed so nice. 

She bummed around with Carli once, having her show her all the spots she used to haunt, which, for her, was mostly, the gym, the field and the weight room. 

They get into the small locker room, shedding their coats and getting into their gear, Tobin opting to get into her boots in here and not on the pitch. It’s going to be a chilly game, the temperature is only in the low forties. She’s indecisive about wearing long sleeves or not, but she knows there’s a stiff breeze out there so she layers up with her Under Armor long sleeve before pulling her training top over her head.

 

“Fuck! It’s cold out there!” Sonnet exclaims as they sit down in at their lockers after warm ups. She’s digging through her locker trying to find her gloves. 

“I wish that wind would die down,” Tobin says, considering wearing her socks high for the first time in forever. She shakes her head at the thought, knowing she’d be distracted by them during the match. She does switch out the cleats on her boots, opting to put in the longer ones so she can get some traction on the near frozen turf. 

Tobin’s stayed warm enough through most of the first half, cringing in pain when she’s sent to the ground, her shoulder slamming into the hard, unforgiving turf. It hurts and pain lingers longer than she likes, swinging her arm to loosen it up as she jogs into the play. 

She’s forgets about the pain and the cold, focusing solely on the game, blocking out the distractions, just being in the moment. She finds her chance to loft a ball forward, seeing Lindsey making a run, she smirks as the ball drops at her feet, letting her tap the first touch past the last defender before shooting it past the goalie. 

The Thorns gather to celebrate, quickly dispersing to get on with it, halftime nearing. They don’t get too many chances after that, the ball bouncing unpredictably on the hard turf, blowing the chances of many good build ups. 

Tobin’s skin is on fire from the heat of the looker room, she sits in her seat, rubbing her arms to remove the pain of the thousand needles she feels shooting through them. Mark comes in to talk tactics, switching the game plan a little. He wants to keep getting balls behind the defense, knowing the build up plays with passing aren’t working too well because of the bouncy, near frozen surface. 

Tobin, Allie, Lindsey and Dagny all nod, knowing their responsibilities. Tobin’s sipping on a hot tea through the meeting, enjoying the warmth settling through her body. They get the call to head back to the field, she discards the empty cup in the recycle bin on her way out. 

Boston has taken counter measures to thwart Mark’s plan. After being taken down twice, once in a wet puddle, a soaked Tobin begins to think the Breakers idea is to just make them miserable enough to give up. 

After seeing Lindsey go down hard on her hip, crying out and not getting up quickly like she normally does, Tobin gets pissed. She starts yelling to the defense, shouting out a flurry of designed plays from the backfield to get the ball forward. She hears the others repeating the plays, spreading across it everyone on the field. Sinc gives her a nod when she passes, and as soon as Tobin gets the ball, she’s off, slipping past her first mark, dancing on her feet, seeing the two defenders approaching as she guides herself just outside the box. 

They commit to her and out of the corner of her eye, she sees Sinc streaking forward, waiting as Tobin back heels it to her leaving her open for a screamer that the goalie gets a hand on, but they still hear the swish as the ball hits the back of the net. 

They come together to celebrate just outside the box. “We need two more!” Sinc orders, everyone nodding. “Quick, short passes, then send them up.” She says, looking at them, “Dag, Allie, get forward- no offsides.” 

They’ve got a couple of minutes because the goalie for Boston is still writhing on the ground, holding her hand. 

“Fuck, Sinc, I think you broke her hand,” Emily Menges says, looking over the huddle as the trainers approach the keeper. 

“I hope not,” Sinc mutters, frowning, looking over as well. “We need two more.” She repeats as the water bottles are being passed around. 

“Let’s distribute to the right and then send it over to the left, they’re playing Tobin heavy so let’s draw them away from her,” A.D. suggests. Kat and Sonnet nod, “Kling, we’ll start to you, then if nothing’s happening over there, send it across to Nails.” 

“I’ve got a bottle of Fireball in my room,” Hayley Raso says, “Shots all around to warm up after!” 

They break apart seeing the new keeper in place and the whistle is blown, Sinc giving Mark a thumbs up to the sideline. Mark trusts the veterans enough that he doesn’t have to over coach from the sidelines. They know his game plan and can execute it perfectly, making tweaks in game, like they’re doing now. 

Ten minutes later, the Thorns score exactly that way, A.D. kicking it Kat to clear out, Kat seeing Kling hanging out at the midline, connecting with her. Kling streaks forward, pulling defenders with her, only to pause, set and loft the ball to Tobin on the opposite side of the field. Tobin settles it, the ball feels like a brick against chest as she brings it down, takes two steps and sends it forward to Raso who launches it towards the net. 

The keeper blocks it, but Dagny is there to hit it home. 3-0. 

Five minutes later, Tobin goes up to head the ball and feels a Boston player undercutting her, taking her legs out and sending her down awkwardly on her knee and then flat on her back. Her head bounces of the pitch, making her see stars for a brief moment, knocking all the air out her. She rolls her knees to her chest, before Lindsey is pulling her into the seated position, holding her arms up as Tobin catches her breath. She waves away the trainers at the sidelines, giving a weak thumbs up as the referee approaches. 

She slowly gets to her feet, throwing her shoulders back to negate the pain across them and trots back into position. She’s wet, she aches, her knee is killing her, she just wants this game over. She looks at the scoreboard, seeing there’s only three minutes left and extra time. 

She knows her teammates feel the same way, but none of them are going to lay down and give Boston a chance to break up A.D.’s clean sheet. 

They go into keep away mode, frustrating Boston to no end, dancing with the ball at midfield, kicking around, trying to stop Boston from getting the opportunity to build up a play. It almost works until the last dwindling seconds when Rose Lavelle disrupts the play and sends it forward to Katie Stengel who shoots. 

A.D. stretches for the save, her body hitting the turf hard, making her slow to get up. They look on with concern, but A.D. waves them back so she can send a booming kick forward just as time expires. 

The keep their on field celebration short, shaking hands with the Breakers who are just as eager to get back into the warm locker room. 

Tobin is given her warm coat, pulling the hood up as she chatters next to Sinc during their on field interview. It’s relatively quick, with the two jogging hurriedly to the locker room to get warm. 

She’s surprised to find the room quiet and everyone looking at her as she comes in. John is by her locker, anger etched in his face. 

“What’s going on?” Tobin asks, looking around. John steps to the side as Tobin steps toward her locker. Lying on top of her neatly folded clothes is a cannister of Morton’s Slat, a thick leather belt and TENS unit with leads and wires tangled around it. 

“Fuck!” she hears Sinc exclaim next to her as she instinctively takes a step back, raising her hand to her stomach. 

Tobin doesn’t realize she’s still backing up until her legs hit the table in the center of the room. She glances around, seeing all eyes still on her, warily watching her reaction. She starts nodding her head, listening to Jen’s voice telling her that those items do not have any power over her. She’s biting her lower lip, trying to control the building feelings of panic that are rising in her. 

Allie swoops in and wraps an arm around her, “Come on, you can borrow some clothes from me,” guiding her to the empty locker on the far side of the room. 

Tobin gets her jacket off, hanging it on the peg inside the empty locker, she’s shivering again from the loss of warmth. Allie looks at her, seeing her head down, arms hugging herself. 

“Let’s get you in the shower,” Allie instructs, glancing to see that John has left the room after giving everyone strict instructions to leave Tobin’s locker untouched. 

She joins her teammates in the shower area, sliding behind a curtain and using Allie’s products to take a quick shower, not lingering under the hot water. 

Back at the empty locker, she sees a pair on Nike Pros, thick sweats, a t-shirt and another Thorns sweatshirt folded of her. As she pulls up the sweats, she hears Sonnet yell out, “Hey Tobin!” and a pair of socks come flying at her. 

“Thanks,” she says, siting to put them on. A pair of Nike slides drop in front of her, A.D. just giving her a knuckle punch and moving to get in the bus. 

Robin comes up as Tobin is standing to put the jacket back on and lays a hand on her shoulder. “John said he’ll get your personal belongings back to you as soon as possible.” 

“Thanks Robin,” she replies softly. She looks around but feels so weird walking out without her back pack. She sighs as Allie jostles into her as she swings her heavy bag. 

“Sorry,” Allie frowns, “you okay?”

“Yeah,” Tobin shrugs, “just, like, it’s surreal, you know?” 

“Let’s just get out of here,” Allie suggests, looping an arm through hers and leading them out of the locker room. 

Nadine Angerer stops them in the hallway. She pulls Tobin in for a fierce hug, muttering something in German that neither Tobin or Allie can understand. 

After Tobin’s incident a little over two years ago, Nadine was out at Kate’s, they were drinking some beers during a Jam Night and Nadine pulled Tobin aside to tell her about her own stalking incident. It wasn’t as violent as Tobin’s had been, but the person did get into her house and messed with her belongings and became threatening. The Police did find him and arrested him, but it was one of the reasons she took the job in Portland. 

Nadine looks Tobin in the eyes, “You stay strong, Ice Bear,” she says, pulling a beanie out and putting it on Tobin’s head.

Tobin nods, “Thanks, Coach,” she clears her throat, “I’m trying my best.” She says quietly. 

Nadine pulls the beanie over Tobin’s eyes, “We have Fireball to drink, yes?” 

Tobin laughs as she pulls the hat up onto her forehead. “One shot with you,” she grins. 

“Yes!” Nadine smiles, “then we take the Final!” 

The three walk out and board the bus. 

 

Tobin does her shot with Nadine, then another with the team before switching to water while they celebrate the win. She slides out of the hotel room, she thinks it’s Raso’s and calls Kate on Allie’s phone that she borrowed. 

She slides onto the floor, leaning against the wall as it rings. Smiling when she sees Kate’s face up, she greets her, “Hi, babe!” 

“Mavourneen, are you alright? John called me,” she asks, her face showing concern. 

“Yeah,” Tobin sighs, “I’m okay,” she says, bringing her knees up and resting her arms in them, “I’m just so done with this, you know?” 

Kate nods sadly, “I know, asthore, I know,” she moves the phone and Tobin can see she’s in bed, Samson’s head near her, “how are you feeling? You took some hard hits,” 

“Eh,” Tobin shrugs, “my knee’s a little sore, but I’m good.” 

“Well, you can look forward to a nice relaxing bath and then a long massage tomorrow when you get home,” Kate smiles, “I think you need an extended recovery session.” 

“Whew! Whew!” Tobin calls out, “Oh yeah!” she adds. 

Kate laughs, “Seriously, though, you’re okay?” 

Tobin smiles as she nods, “Yeah, I’m going to cut out of the celebration a little early and do some yoga and go to bed,” 

“Alright,” Kate smiles back at her, knowing that yoga before bed was a new calming technique that seems to be working for her, “you have a good night then, okay?” 

“I will,” Tobin says, “I love you, I can’t wait to see you tomorrow,” 

“I love you, too,” Kate smiles, “I’ll be there to pick you up.” 

“Until then, babe, have a good night.” 

“Good night Mavourneen,” Kate says and blows a kiss. 

Tobin gets up from the ground, feeling much better now that she’s talked with her wife. She walks back into the room, only to catch the eye of a tipsy Hayley Raso. 

“The assist record holder is back!” she shouts out, making Tobin blush. 

“Shots! Shots! Shots!” the team chants. Tobin gets pulled in for one final shot and then bids her goodnights to the team. Sonnet and Lindsey follow her out, back to the room. 

“You’re not staying?” Tobin questions as they walk down the hall. 

“I’ll go back for a little bit,” Emily nods, “I just want to check the room.” Lindsey nods as well.

“Em,” Tobin protests.

Emily gives her a look, “There’s been enough fuckery going on today, I just want to make sure there isn’t anymore, okay?” 

Tobin hadn’t even thought of looking around the room, she was getting pretty tired and just really wanted to do some stretches, get her mind clear and go to bed. She was appreciative of her teammates’ sensitivity. 

“Thanks, dude,” she says quietly as Emily opens the door, gesturing for Tobin to wait with Lindsey while she checked it out. 

Emily comes back to the doorway, gives her a knuckle punch, “Don’t wait up, Old Lady,” she giggles, teasing her. 

“Just wait until you’re my age!” Tobin calls out down the hallway, laughing. 

 

Tobin gets up from the floor having completed her routine, she feels relaxed, quietly packing her suitcase and leaving out her travel outfit for the morning. They’ve got an early flight out, leaving the hotel at five in the morning with a short layover in Seattle before getting home about one in the afternoon. 

She wakes briefly when Allie slides in next to her at some point during the night, wrapping herself around Tobin, “Love you, Harry,” she drunkenly whispers to Tobin, tightening her grip. Tobin rubs her back, momentarily thinking about what a great friend she has in Allie as she goes back to sleep. 

Neither Allie or Emily love Tobin in the morning as they rush to pack while Tobin leisurely drinks a coffee, having been up and ready, attempting to wake them multiple times.   
After the third time of being told to fuck off by them, Tobin threw the comforters off their beds and then opening the patio drapes to let the bright morning sun enter the room. 

Then she turned on all of the lights in the room and the television. Loudly. 

She giggled like a child as they hurried about the room.

They all eventually straggle onto the bus and double check the head count making sure nobody is still in a room, sleeping off their celebration. 

 

 

Tobin can’t help herself, checking that the doors are locked before meeting Kate in the master bath. 

Kate smiles as she steps towards her, “All good?” she asks, knowing what Tobin was doing. 

“Sealed up tight,” Tobin replies, “safe and sound.” 

“Good,” Kate says, enveloping her in hug, “I want you to always feel safe with me,” she says softly in her ear before her head down and place a gentle kiss in her neck. 

“I always feel safe with you, babe,” Tobin says, rubbing her back and sighing, feeling the comfort of home and her wife’s touch. 

Kate begins to slowly remove Tobin’s clothes as the water fills up in the Jacuzzi tub. She drops her robe and gets in first, extending a hand for Tobin to take as she gets in. Tobin   
notices two beers on the ledge of the tub, smiling. The sink into the water, Kate holding Tobin in her arms, Tobin leaning back into her. She hands Tobin a beer and they clink the bottles as a toast and then each take a drink. 

“I think I knew you were the one for me when I found out your favorite beer,” Kate laughs lightly. 

Tobin lays her head back on Kate’s shoulder, “I think you knew when Jake didn’t do his weird beer thing with me.” 

“That might have been part of it,” Kate admits, “I think it was when we went to your first Thorns game. Seeing how loved you were by so many people in that stadium, your team,” she shakes her head, “I truly saw just how amazing you are.” 

Tobin turns her head and puckers her lips and kisses her. 

“The first Jam Night.” Tobin says, rubbing her hand along Kate’s raised knee, “when you sang To Make You Feel My Love. I knew. Right then, I just knew you were it for me.” 

“I was really scared to sing that song that night,” Kate admits, lightly tracing her fingers on Tobin’s chest, “I was terrified of your reaction.” 

She can feel Tobin smiling, “I felt like I was the only person in that barn and you were singing just to me.” She shifts a little lower so she’s floating her legs a little, letting the nozzle hit her tired legs. “But the song you played after is my song about being with you.” 

Kate thinks for a minute, “The Best Of What’s Around?” 

Tobin nods. 

 

“Yeah,” Kate sighs, “I love that song, too. We’ve been very lucky and had some awesome times together so far.” 

Tobin nods again and takes Kate’s free hand. “Babe?” she turns to look at her, “I’m scared.” 

Kate sighs again, “Me too.” She admits. 

“What if they’re planning something awful for the Final?” Tobin asks, Kate hearing the fear in her voice. 

“Well, since it’s at Providence Park,” she says, “we can control just about everything. We’re planning for anything to happen and you’ll never be alone. We’ve got more dogs on patrol, we’ve got undercover cops in the stands, we’ve got more security on the perimeter of the field. We’re going to get a security detail to take us to the Park and back home.” 

“Can we maybe hire someone to watch the house?” Tobin asks. 

“Of course,” Kate agrees, “that’s a very good idea. I’ll call tomorrow.” 

“Thanks,” Tobin says, moving her legs around in the water. 

“Ready for that massage now?” Kate asks, giving her a kiss on her temple. 

“Oh, that would be great.” Tobin says, leaning forward to get out of the tub. 

 

“Oooohhh,” Tobin lets out a low moan, hips rising to meet Kate’s fingers as she’s steadily pumping into her. “Don’t stop,” she begs, feeling the pull in her hips, her legs tingling as   
the heat rises in her body. Kate’s curling her fingers into her, panting as she dips her head down, taking her clit in her mouth and sucking as Tobin groans. 

Tobin’s legs shake as she feels the orgasm wash over, chin on her chest, mouth open unable to speak. She drops back, her lower half numb, her body melting into the mattress. She feels Kate slowly climb up to her, wiping away the sweaty hairs from her face as she regains her breathing. 

Tobin brings a shaky hand to Kate’s back, laying it there as she smiles lazily at her. “Babe,” she says, leaning to meet Kate’s lips, kissing her softly, “that was amazing,” 

Kate grins, kissing her again, “You deserved it, champ.” She says, playfully circling Tobin’s breast with her fingers. “Now, you nap for a bit, I’m going to get dinner ready, I’ll wake you in a while.” 

Tobin holds her close, “What if I want to do you?” 

Kate smiles, “We’ll go to bed early,” she kisses her once more, “we have to follow your recovery program.” 

Tobin laughs, stretching her arms and legs, “Okay, but only for a little while?” She’s sleepy, not having slept much on the plane or getting her usual afternoon nap. 

“Absolutely,” Kate says, kissing her a final time before sliding out of bed, Tobin’s eyes on her naked body leaving for the bathroom. She closes her eyes and sleep comes quick. 

 

 

It’s Wednesday and the Thorns are focused on the Final. Kate is just as focused, triple checking with John and the rest of the security staff, running through game day scenarios, making sure the additional security knows their roles. 

John and the Police in Boston had interviewed the locker room attendant after the incident there, the young college kid was scared, but able to identify the woman that approached him to place the items in Tobin’s locker. 

She had been wearing NWSL clothing, looking official so he didn’t hesitate when she told him what to do. When shown the photos of the two suspected women they were focusing on, he picked the one out firmly and confidently, pointing to her without hesitation. 

Kate is sitting with the video guys, chatting about having someone monitor the players area during the match when John strides, looking serious. 

“They got her,” he says, when Kate looks up to greet him. “they waited for her and got her at PDX.” 

Kate brings a hand to her chest, “Really?” she asks as relief floods through her. John nods his head. “They’re getting search warrants now.” 

Kate leans in back in her chair, letting out a deep breath, “I’m so glad.” 

“We all are,” Gavin says from the doorway, “why don’t you find her now and tell her?” he smiles at Kate. 

Kate grins as she leaves, walking fast to the tunnel. She watches on the sidelines as practice ends, players stretching out in the brisk air, chatting with one another. 

“What’s up, babe?” Tobin asks when she sees her, it’s unusual for Kate to be out here. Since they are married and essentially work together, Kate and Tobin like to keep their jobs separate from each other as much as possible. 

“I have some news,” Kate smiles, giving her a quick hug. Tobin hangs on to Kate’s hands as they stand face to face. “They caught your stalker,” Kate explains, watching as Tobin’s shoulders relax. 

“Really?” she asks cautiously. Kate nods. “They got her at PDX from her return flight from Boston.” 

Tobin hugs her closely, squeezing her hard, “I’m so relieved,” she whispers. 

Kate smiles at her, “You should go and get changed,” she says, not wanting Tobin to catch a chill in her sweaty clothes. “I don’t want you to get sick.” 

“I don’t get sick,” Tobin grins at her, backing away slowly, “you’re the sickie.” 

“Whatever,” Kate waves at her, “I’ll be home later.” 

“I’ll have dinner ready,” Tobin nods and turns to head to the locker room. 

Kate sighs, relieved that the stalker is no longer a threat.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kate has her procedure performed. The Final is played. The last home game party ensues Kate and Tobin await the news if Kate is pregnant. Dinner at Kling's results in an argument between Allie and Tobin.

It’s Tuesday and Tobin is gowned up holding Kate’s hand as she has her in vitro procedure. She carefully drives them home, making sure Kate has everything she needs before reluctantly leaving to go to practice. 

Wednesday comes and Kate’s feeling better, anxious for the days to pass and she goes for the bloodwork.

 

 

“Just play your game,” Kate says, kissing Tobin tenderly, “go do your thing.” 

“I will,” Tobin says, kissing her, feeling Kate’s hands on her ass. 

Kate squeezes her and then delivers a slap as she smirks, “Win or lose, you’ve got recovery to do tonight, champ.” 

Tobin breaks into a grin, “It’ll be victory recovery,” she nods. 

“That means you get to choose your recovery methods,” Kate grins, wiggling her eyebrows. 

“Yeah, and I want” Tobin says, nodding at Allie as she passes them in the hallway outside the locker room, she bends in close to Kate’s ear, whispering what she wants. Kate turns a lovely shade of red as Tobin laughs, kisses her once more and departs behind the door. 

“Whew,” Kate fans herself, thinking about what Tobin said, slowly walking to her position on the field as the players begin to come out for warmups. 

Chicago made a late season surge, beating Seattle handily in the semi-final to earn them their spot here tonight. Providence Park was chosen for the final long ago, but once it was announced, it gave the Thorns even more motivation to make it as well. 

They also want to be the first team to win the Shield and the Championship. 

It’s a packed house, a sellout crowd of over 21,000 fans. The chants start early as the teams warm up, going through their stretching, running, and passing and shooting drills. It’s mostly Thorns fans, but Chicago has almost two whole sections sporting their fans, traveling to see them play. 

After they change into their game uniforms and listen to their last minute speeches from their coaches, they’re back on the field, taking the team photos, doing the coin toss, and the National Anthem. Kate sees Tobin looking calm as the anthem plays, hand on her heart, tapping two fingers every once in a while. 

The whistle blows and the match begins. 

The game is physical on both sides, neither team giving an inch and the battle plays out at the midfield. Tobin is listed as a forward, playing up front and has her hands full being double teamed by Colaprico and Comeau coming in tight on her, with shoulders and elbows finding their mark on her. She gets clear to pass over to Horan who moves the ball through to Kling as Tobin streaks in, making a run with Raso and Sinc coming in late. 

Kling sends a fast pass to Raso who shoots but it’s at the crossbar, deflecting at the feet of Tobin who takes one touch and sends in towards Sinc to bury in the goal. 

The stadium erupts with cheers as the Thorns celebrate the goal, quickly resetting for play to resume. 

Chicago responds only minutes later with a surprise bomb off Christen Press’ foot from outside the box leaving A.D. looking silly. They score again just minutes from the half, a weird corner kick that looks to be nothing but then Menges gets knocked down and the ball ricochets off Hoy’s frantic kick into the goal.

Down by one at the half, the Thorns hold their heads high heading into the locker room. When they come out, the pace is fast, sending balls up into corners with Tobin sending in a beauty that Allie heads but Naeher makes an incredible save. 

In the sixtieth minute, Sonnet sends a ball up that Tobin is racing to track down, knowing that Short is on her tail. As she nears the slow rolling ball, she feels a hip check and her legs slide out from under her, sending her down hard on the pitch, rolling once and then her knee catching a seam, nearly stopping her forward momentum, pain soaring up her leg.

Tobin curls into a ball, clutching her knees, gasping at the pain. The trainers come out and help her to the sideline. 

“Just spray it, come on!” Tobin urges as she watches the game. 

“Let’s get you down and do a check,” Robin suggests, fearing there’s more to it. 

“Please!” Tobin waves her hands, “It’s just the bruise, just spray it and let me get back out there!” 

Robin sprays her knee down and Tobin gingerly jogs the sideline, her movements becoming smoother as she goes. 

“I’m good,” she says to Robin, “just the bruise.” 

“Alright,” Robin says reluctantly as Tobin heads to the sideline official. 

She trots back out to join the play, moving fairly well without a limp. The game moves on, Chicago threatening but the Thorns defense shutting them down. Allie serves up a beautiful pass to Sinc, who fakes it and jumps over it for Raso to shoot and score. The game is now tied. 

Both teams go into high gear, Tobin trotting along the far sideline, watching as Kling battles it out on the opposite side of the field. Kling fakes her defender and steps clear to cross into the box, Lindsey diving forward to head the ball. It hits a defender, bounces back out of the box, cleared by Chicago. 

The Thorns move up the field as a light mist begins to come down, slickening the turf. Allie field marshalls as she carries the ball up, weighing her options while skillfully retaining possession. She flicks it over to Sinc who makes a break for the box, passing it through defenders to Raso who takes a shot. Out for a corner kick. 

Kate struggles to keep her mouth shut and not begin cheering. Samson sits at her side, just taking it all in. Kate watches as Tobin comes to the corner, wiping her hands along the sides of her shorts, before picking up the ball and placing it where she wants it. She paces backwards, scanning the field and raises her arm. 

It’s a low line drive towards the near post, sinking slightly as Emily Sonnet breaks through undefended and heads it in the goal. The Thorns scream with excitement as they huddle to celebrate, breaking away to reset their positions for the final few minutes. 

Play resumes with the Thorns playing keep away, passing as much as they can, controlling possession. Once again, it gets broken up, with a minute left in extra time, and Chicago sends a ball down deep for Mautz to be one on one with A.D., head faking her and sliding the ball into the net. 

A whistle for offsides is called and the stadium erupts, fans yelling it was a good goal or yelling in relief. Christen Press argues with the referee enough to be given a yellow card, getting dragged away by Ertz, who’s mouthing at the ref as she guides Press away. 

That seems to let the drive slip away from the Red Stars, they’re left shaken, having trouble connecting passes that are taken away by the Thorns. 

The final whistle blows and the red smoke appears, chants echoing throughout the stadium. Thorns are huddle together, hugging, crying, laughing. They all shakes hand and even some hug the Red Stars, who hold their heads in defeat. 

The Thorns gather on the field in a line to thank the fans, holding hands and swinging them in the air as Raso, Sinc and Sonnet accept their roses with the crown being given to Tobin for her two assists. They regroup and huddle around the coolers that were dragged out onto the field, stretching and drinking their postgame electrolytes. 

Robin finds Tobin, looking over her knee and giving her a bag of ice, agreeing it is a bruise, but cautioning her that they will look at it closer tomorrow. 

“Robin,” Tobin says as stand up, the ice bag strapped around her left knee, “thank you so much for everything.” She hugs her tightly, “You really helped me hold it together this season in so many ways.” 

“Oh Tobin,” Robin replies, tears springing to her eyes, unable to speak anything more. 

They hug for a few moments, Tobin crying into her shoulder, flooded with relief that the season was over and she could put to rest the whole events of the stalker. 

The Thorns are being called to grab their warmups and assemble for the medal ceremony, followed by the trophy presentation. The team gathers, Sinc raising the award with Tobin and Allie and Kling having their hands on it. The confetti shoots across the field as loud music is playing. 

John stands next to Kate, nudging her as she wipes her eyes, “That was something, huh?” he grins. 

“Oh my God,” Kate laughs, “it was incredible!” she exclaims. 

“Gimme your jacket,” he motions for the lightweight yellow security windbreaker, “go celebrate with your wife.” He grins as Kate hands him the jacket, hugging him before leading Samson over to where the other family members are gathered. 

As the players break into smaller groups, finding their families and friends to celebrate, Kate scans the scene looking for Tobin. She finds her by the bench, almost hidden, standing by a seat in the back row, hands on her knees, looking down. 

“You okay, champ?” Kate asks, placing a hand on her back. 

Tobin looks up at her quickly and Kate can see instantly that she’s overwhelmed right now.

“Sit down,” Kate instructs, holding her shoulder and guiding her to a seat, “just breathe,” she soothes, “nice and easy.” 

Tobin nods, letting a deep breath out, closing her eyes for a moment as she collects herself. Kate’s kneeling on front of her, her hands on Tobin’s knees. 

“You were terrific,” Kate smiles at her, moving her hand up and squeezing her thigh, “that was an awesome match.” 

“Thanks,” Tobin smiles, her voice a little shaky, “this is a lot,” she uses her arm to gesture to the stadium around her. 

“I know,” Kate replies, “it is,” she acknowledges, “but you’re doing great.” 

Samson nuzzles his way to Tobin’s side, jumping on the seat next to her so he can lick her face. 

“Easy, Sammy!” Kate cautions, as Tobin laughs. 

“Better?” Kate asks her, offering her a water bottle.

“So much, now that you’re here,” Tobin smiles, leaning forward for a kiss. “I just needed a minute to regroup.” She explains. 

“I’m so proud of you,” Kate whispers in her ear. 

Tobin’s keeping it together, knowing there’s cameras everywhere. 

She stands up, kissing Kate’s hand as they move out of the sheltered bench and join in on the celebrating. 

 

“I’ll see you at home, right?” Tobin confirms as she’s wrapped in Kate’s embrace. 

“Yes, I just want to be sure everything is ready.” Kate states. The team, friends and family are heading over to their house for a celebratory night. Tobin and Kate had planned it with Merritt and Gavin ahead of time that everyone would come over, win or lose. It’s the second time they’ve hosted the last home game party, last year’s being remembered as an absolute blast. 

When Kate pulls up, the house is dark but the pavilion side doors are open, people entering with boxes and bags. She parks near the deck, running in the house to change quickly, Samson strolling the grounds and greeting those in the pavilion. 

She finds Jake in the kitchen area, overseeing the cooking as the hired college students are busy creating appetizers. 

“You should have been a chef!” Kate exclaims as she hugs him. 

“That was some game!” He exclaims, “How’s Tobin’s knee?” 

“Bruised,” Kate answers, watching the band set up. “They’ll look at it better tomorrow.” 

Jake nods, getting pulled away by a student. 

Kate finds Fred, giving him a high five on the stage they set up on the carpeted area in front of the TV’s. The couches were moved to the side walls and a dance area was created on the hardwood floor before the tables. 

Kate smiles as she sees some students on ladders hanging a Championship banner she had made without Tobin knowing about it. 

Kate gets pulled into a hug from Perry, Tobin’s sister who was at the game. 

“Kate!” she yells, “That was awesome!” Kate can tell she’s had a few beers. 

“What can I do to help” she asks, looking around. 

Kate grins at her, “Just get yourself a drink and relax,” she says, “They’ve got it covered.” Nodding to the workers, getting everything in place. 

The place is packed, friends and family finding their seats at the marked tables so they can all sit together, people at the bar stations getting their drinks. Music is playing in the background, shouts and cheers as the team starts filtering in.

 

After the dinner and some hilarious speeches by coaches and players, Kate finds herself in Tobin’s arms on the dance floor while the band plays a slow song. Kate looks at Tobin, seeing how tired she is from the game and the emotions of the night. She knows their special recovery session will have to wait. 

“You doing alright?” she asks, checking in with her. 

“Yeah,” Tobin nods, leaning her head on Kate’s shoulder, “just getting tired.” 

“We could start saying our goodbyes,” Kate suggests, “Jake will lock up.” She feels Tobin shake her head against her. 

“We’re hosting,” she replies, not wanting to bail out early. Kate knows Tobin will resist, hating the after affect of her falling asleep from emotional duress. She knows it makes Tobin feel weak when she gets so tired so easily. Since this new stalker issue had unfolded, it had come back, rearing its ugly head. Tobin even fell asleep while eating dinner on the couch a few weeks back. 

“How’s the knee feel?” Kate asks, she thought Tobin was limping a little bit a while ago. 

Tobin pulls her head back and smiles at her, “Feels like victory.” 

“How many beers have you had?” Kate laughs. 

“Not enough,” Tobin grins crookedly at her, she’s got a great buzz going. The song ends and Tobin pulls Kate by the hand to the bar, elbowing her way to Jake. 

“Jake!” she yells out and he turns to her, a smile crossing his face, Kate looking on, rolling her eyes. She knows what’s coming next. It’s only happened a few times before when Tobin’s had a little too much to drink. 

“We need to toast!” she roars, happily smiling at him. 

“And what would be toasting tonight?” Jake grins, his fake Irish brogue on full display. 

“Me wife and all her glory!” Tobin replies with an equally poor accent. Kate laughs as Sinc elbows her. 

“She’s feeling pretty good, huh?” Sinc laughs. 

“Oh yeah,” Kate agrees, shaking her head. 

Jake starts lining up the shots on the bar, Tobin grabbing two and handing one to Sinc. 

Tobin raises her glass, “To Kate, the woman who saved my life, who can make me laugh when I want to cry, who’s hugs comfort me when I’m down,” her voice grows more serious, “who encourages me when I want to give up, who keeps me tethered to Earth when I feel like I’m falling apart and who shows me unconditional love every single day. You are my everything and I will always love you. To Kate!” 

“To Kate!” those gathered shout, drinking their shot. 

Kate’s blushing profusely as she tries to hold back the tears forming in her eyes as Tobin circles her arms around her and kisses her passionately. She stays close, foreheads touching. “Full disclosure: I love you.” 

Kate smiles at her, “Full disclosure: I love you, too.” Kate kisses her, tasting the whiskey on Tobin’s tongue, hearing the catcalls surrounding them, trying to pull back before she moans out loud. 

She pulls back, holding Tobin’s hand, looking around at those gathered, “Alright!” she shouts with a smile on her face, “You had your show, get lost!” 

“I see you’re still in the honeymoon stage!” Sonnett yells back, giggling. 

“Bati, why can’t we be that cute?” Allie complains from the arms of her husband. 

“You can’t copy cool!” he smirks as everyone roars. She smacks his shoulder. 

“Harry!” Allie wails, “Why ya gotta be so cool?”

Tobin just shrugs, laughing as Kate leads her away. 

 

 

“You painted this while you were tripping on acid?” Lindsey’s voice is incredulous. Tobin nods. 

“That’s amazing,” Kling says softly. 

Tobin had ducked out of the pavilion with Lindsey, Kling, Sinc, Sonnet and Allie to go to the barn. They smoked some weed and then she flipped the switch to show them the painting, now mounted over the back wall by the stage. 

“Do you remember what is was like?” Allie asks curiously.

Tobin nods, “I remember most of it, it started with the first corner kick, the ball had this white tail coming out of it when I kicked it. The next one,” 

“The golazo?” Kling asks. 

“Yeah,” Tobin shakes her head, “that time, the tail on the ball was, like, glowing, and then my hearing was all warped like I was under water. When the smoke came, I thought I saw it smiling at me, and then the turf, was, like, I don’t know, the rubber pellets were fascinating.” She shrugs. 

“What about later?” Allie prods. 

“Like, I could see music, you know, just feeling it and I had a strawberry and it was like the most amazing thing I ever tasted or saw.” Tobin puts her hands in hoodie pocket. 

“So, like, a heightened sense of awareness?” Sinc asks. 

“Yeah,” Tobin leans against the bar, “but like, all senses, taste, touch, smell, hearing, I know I was hallucinating as well.” 

“Were you scared?” Kling asks. 

Tobin nods, “Just once, I swore Mikey was Tony, from the stalker thing.” 

“Oh shit! That sucks!” Emily exclaims. “Did you freak out?” 

“A little,” Tobin shrugs, frowning, “but Robin made him leave and then Kate got there and I was fine.” 

“Did you know something was wrong with you?” Sinc asks.

She shakes her head again, “I had no idea, I was too distracted by everything. I knew you guys were playing but, like, it didn’t matter, I was just off in, like, my own little world.” 

Allie elbows her side, “Harry, you’re always off in your own little world.” 

Tobin gives her a side eye look and smirks, “Yeah, yeah,” she says, “this was a bit different.” 

They stand quietly looking at the painting. 

“How’d you feel the next day?” Kling asks. 

“Super confused,” Tobin admits, “I thought I had a head injury or something.” 

“I bet Kate was a wreck,” Sinc says.

Tobin shrugs, “She was amazing,” she shakes her head, “she kept me safe, made me feel loved, and never let me get scared,” 

“She kept us in the loop,” Allie murmurs, “but she was in cop mode.” 

The others nod, Tobin briefly looking at them. 

“What do you mean?” she asks. 

“She didn’t let herself become emotional about it,” Sinc explains, “when they knew it was LSD, she just said you were tripping and she was keeping you safe.” 

Tobin nods, “Yeah, she’d be like that,” she says quietly, “she told me she’d had her share of dealing with people like that.” 

Allie elbows her again, “Yet another reason she’s such an awesome person.” She smiles at Tobin. 

Tobin smiles, “She is pretty great, isn’t she?” 

Sonnet knuckles punches her, “Let’s go find your awesome wife, shall we?” 

“Yeah,” Kling says, “I need another drink before last call!” she shakes her empty bottle. 

Tobin locks up and they return to the pavilion, scattering across the room. Tobin spies Kate talking with her Perry and her Mother. She slowly makes her way across the room to join them. 

“There you are!” her Mom exclaims, “We were looking for you,” she says pulling Tobin in a hug. “We’re heading out.” 

“What time are your flights tomorrow again?” Tobin asks, it slipped her mind during the week. 

“We’re both outta here early,” Perry says, “gotta get back.” 

Tobin frowns, “Okay,” she sighs, “thanks so much for coming, it really means a lot to me.” 

“Walk us out?” Perry says, arching her eyebrow. Tobin nods. 

Hugs are exchanged with Kate, promises of visits to be planned and then Tobin is outside, slowly walking them to their rental car. 

They say their goodbyes, promising to look for dates for visits and then Tobin slowly walks back towards the pavilion. She sees Kate leaning against the wall by the door. 

“Hey, stud,” Kate smiles as she approaches, offering her a water bottle. 

“Thanks,” Tobin says, taking a drink, “what’s up, babe?” 

“Just getting some air,” Kate replies, leaning up against the wall. 

Tobin leans next to her, finding her hand and holding it, “You okay?” 

Kate nods with a smile, “Just, relieved,” she says. “It’s over, this stalker is in jail, we can get back to our normal life.” She shrugs, “Off season fun.” 

Tobin nods, “Well, we’re going to have to change some plans,” she says, taking another sip of water, “you won’t be rafting in Colorado if you’re pregnant.” 

“Oh, you think that’s gonna stop me?” Kate snorts. 

“Listen,” Tobin says, bringing her into a hug, “what if we’re on Day Three of a ten day trip and all of the sudden at two o’clock in the morning the baby wants a Big Mac or ice cream? What then?” 

“Well,” Kate kisses her lips softly, looking into her eyes, seeing the love, “you would just get into a raft and paddle your little heart out to the nearest McDonald’s or ice cream shop.” She grins. 

Tobin laughs, “Not gonna happen,” she smiles broadly at her, rubbing her back. 

The doors open suddenly, with Kling and Sonnet tumbling out, “Yo!” Kling exclaims, “Party’s over! Jake said we don’t have to go home but we can’t stay here!” she laughs, hugging Kate clumsily. 

“This was awesome,” Emily says, hugging Tobin, “thanks for letting us hang here, it’s just so cool!” 

“If you hadn’t scored on that header, I would have called it off,” Tobin grins as Emily smacks her shoulder. 

“Well, you’re lucky I did then” she says hugging Kate, “keep that one in line, will ya?” 

“We’ll see you at my place on Wednesday, right?” Kling calls out. She’s hosting a final team night before everyone scatters to their off season destinations. 

“Totally!” Tobin yells back, swaying a little, still holding Kate. 

More people filter out, heading to cars, Kate eying them all, making sure everyone is good to drive. They head into the pavilion, seeing the clean up in full swing. 

“Get out!” Jake shouts, “Go home!” He waves them away. 

“We’ve got this,” Cath says, hugging them both, “I’ll make sure everything is locked up.” 

“Thanks so much,” Tobin says as she yawns. 

Tobin and Kate walk slowly to the house, Samson by their side. 

 

“Next week, for sure,” Tobin says, gripping Kate’s hand as she drives. At the stop light, she glances over. They are driving back home from Kate’s doctor appointment. It was encouraging, her levels were only a few points away from being officially pregnant. 

“Dr. Chen said she’s seen this before,” Tobin rambles nervously, squeezing Kate’s hand.

“What if it doesn’t take?” Kate asks quietly, her voice trembling. 

Tobin lets out a deep breath, “Then we regroup and go from there.”

Kate lets out a sob, holding her face in her hands. 

Tobin spies a parking lot to pull into, steering the car to park it. She turns to face Kate, gently taking one of her hands and bringing it down from her face. Kate brings her other hand down and looks up at Tobin miserably. 

“What if I can’t carry?” she asks, fearfully, “What if this doesn’t work?” 

“Babe, we’ll figure it out,” Tobin says tenderly, rubbing the back of Kate’s hand with her thumb, “it sucks, but we gotta have faith in God and science right now, okay?” 

Kate sniffles and Tobin releases her hand so she can retrieve some Kleenex from the console in between their seats. 

“Here,” she offers the tissue to her wife, Kate taking it and wiping her eyes. 

“Glad I didn’t wear any mascara today,” Kate comments wryly, sniffling one last time, taking Tobin’s hand again in hers, “you’re right, and I know it, I just, I guess,” she looks down, “I want this to happen so badly.” She says quietly. 

“It will if it’s meant to be right now,” Tobin states, “and if not, we either try again, or I carry or we adopt or foster or whatever.” 

Kate’s mouth drops open, “You carry?” 

Tobin shrugs, “Why not?” 

Kate just looks at her, “Well, for one, we never talked about that,” she says, “would you want to carry and take a year off of playing?” 

“Well, yeah,” Tobin looks at her as if she’s being silly for asking, “I mean, if you didn’t want to try again, I’d like to do after the World Cup and the Olympics, so, like, in two years?” 

“You’d really do that?” Kate asks, impressed with her all over again. 

“Of course,” Tobin smiles. 

“Of course,” Kate says back at her, smiling now. A real, genuine smile. 

They look at each other for a minute. 

“Are we good?” Tobin asks, giving her a hopeful look. 

“Yeah,” Kate nods with a smile, “we’re good.” 

“Full disclosure?” Tobin asks. 

“Full disclosure.” Kate squeezes her hand. 

Tobin pulls back into traffic and suddenly starts to giggle. When she doesn’t stop after a minute, Kate smacks her arm. “What’s so funny?” 

Tobin chuckles, “Don’t take this the wrong way okay?” she giggles again, “I’m just thinking that it would be just like my eggs in there being like, ‘Yo, Sperm! Fuck off!’” 

Kate just stares at Tobin before breaking out laughing, “You are such a dork!” she exclaims, giggling on and off for the rest of the short drive home. 

 

“You still want to go?” Tobin asks Kate as she’s just finishing applying some light makeup before they leave. 

“To Kling’s? Absolutely.” She replies, looking at Tobin in the mirror. 

“No, I meant camping,” Tobin explains, “tomorrow. I looked at the forecast and it says highs in the middle sixties with lows in the mid-forties at night. You still want to go?” 

“Sure,” she smiles at her, “but just remember, no sex until next week and we go back to the doctors,” she smirks. 

“Oh man!” Tobin exclaims, grinning, “And I was looking forward to tent sex with you!” 

Kate elbows her, “Guess you’re on your own!” 

 

Dinner at Kling’s is enjoyable and relaxed with much wine flowing. The group is laughing over hilarious mishaps during the season, jabbing at each other in good fun. After dinner, Kate ends up in the kitchen with Bati and Allie chatting as they dry some of the dishes. 

“So, when are you guys going back to New York?” she asks, handing Allie a cookie sheet. 

“Ugh, Friday,” Allie frowns, she’s a bit tipsy, “we have soooo much stuff to do before we go.” 

“Aw, it’s not that much, babe,” Bati kisses her cheek, “you just have to pack your clothes.” 

“And shoes and purses and jackets and” she shakes her head, “Good thing though, we’re shipping so much back so we can travel light.”

“You guys traveling soon?” Bati asks, straightening up from cleaning some crumbs off the floor. Just about everyone has left, only a few linger to help clean up. 

Kate shrugs, “We’re going camping tomorrow for a couple of days,” she says, drying the large pot in her hands, “we’re kind of on hold until we know what’s going on.” 

“Did things not go okay today?” Allie asks cautiously, Tobin had told her they were going today.

Kate grimaces a little, “Well, I’m not pregnant,” she says, “yet.” 

Bati and Allie look confused. 

“My numbers aren’t up enough to be officially pregnant, yet.” Kate explains, “It happens every once in a while with in vitro. We’ll know one way or the other for sure next week.” 

Allie hugs her, “We’ll be praying for happy news,” she says quietly, Bati placing his hand on Kate’s shoulder and squeezing. 

Kate smirks at them, “You should ask Tobin what she said in the car about her eggs,” she nods at Allie. Allie turns to find Tobin in the living room, by the table, sipping her fourth glass of wine while clumsily putting leftovers into some Pyrex dishes. 

Allie marches there, pulling Tobin aside. 

Kling comes and stacks some plates on the counter, arguing with Kate and Bati about the dishes when they hear Allie erupt. 

“What the fuck, Harry?” Allie’s slapping Tobin’s shoulders with both hands as Tobin backs up, stumbling upon hitting the wall. 

“I was joking! I was just kidding!” she’s exclaiming with her hands up in defense. Allie suddenly grabs Tobin’s ear with her fingers, dragging her down the hallway. 

They hear a door slam shut, a loud exclamation of ‘Tobin Powell Doyle Heath!’ and then Allie’s muffled voice speaking sternly. 

Kate’s mouth is hung open, clearly not expecting Allie’s reaction to Tobin’s joke. She glances around the kitchen, most everyone else is mirroring her reaction. 

Bati nudges her, “What did she say?” Kate tells him, adding, “She was clearly joking, and I knew it, she was just trying to make me laugh.”

Sinc strolls up, eying them, “Uh, everything okay?” she asks, looking confused. 

“Mama Bear Allie has come out to play,” Bati announces. Sinc shakes her head, witnessing Allie tearing apart Tobin before. 

Kling just rolls her eyes and elbows Kate, “You should get in there,” she suggests. 

“Yeah,” Kate nods, dropping the dish towel on the counter and walking down the hall. As she nears the bathroom, she can hear words floating out, like sensitivity, thoughtfulness, insecurity, fucking asshole. She cringes as she wraps her hand around the doorknob, twisting it slowly and entering quietly.

Allie is standing over Tobin with her hands on her hips. Tobin is sitting on the edge of the tub, hands holding her downcast head. 

“-and you need to fucking think before you say something like that!” Allie spits out angrily. 

Kate clears her throat, Allie spinning around to see her. 

“Uh,” Allie says, unsure of what to say. “I just…” 

Kate gives her a small smile, placing a hand on her shoulder as she moves closer. “I know, I understand,” she says, she gives her a head tilt and Allie leaves, quietly shutting the door after herself. 

Kate knows they’ve all been drinking and it was obvious that Allie didn’t find what Tobin said as humorous as she did. 

“Asthore?” she says quietly, Tobin looking up at her with tears streaking down her face. 

“I’m so sorry,” Tobin says, her voice uneven, holding back from full on sobbing, “I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings.” 

Kate pulls her up, stroking her hair and rubbing her back, “It was funny, I knew you were kidding, I wasn’t hurt at all.” 

“But Allie!” Tobin starts. 

“Allie took it the wrong way,” Kate soothes, “she’s had a bit much to drink and didn’t understand how I knew you were joking. It’s fine, really.” 

Tobin pulls back to look at her, “Are you sure?” Kate nods at her, smiling. 

“I never want to hurt your feelings,” Tobin sniffles, “I love you, I don’t want to be an asshole to you. Ever.” 

“And you aren’t.” Kate says kissing her softly. “I am fine. It was funny. It’s my fault for not explaining it so good to her.” 

“I’ll never joke about it again,” Tobin says, wiping her nose with the back of her hand, “I promise.” 

“Don’t worry about it,” Kate says, “sometimes I need your jokes to make me feel better, just like you did today. Honest.” 

Tobin looks at her uncertainly, “Full disclosure?” 

Kate nods, kissing her again, “Full disclosure.” 

Tobin nods, looking at her, “Sorry for this,” 

“It’s okay,” Kate says, “let’s wash your face and go back out there. We need to go soon,” 

“Okay,” Tobin says, turning to the sink. 

 

“I’m sorry Harry,” Allie wraps Tobin in a hard hug, swaying unsteadily when they meet in the kitchen, “you’re not an asshole.” 

“Neither are you, Har,” Tobin says, squeezing her tight, “Love you,” 

“I love you, too,” Allie replies, Bati taking her arm and offering her jacket to her. 

Kling just shakes her head, as does Sinc, who’s putting on her jacket. 

Hugs and goodbyes are exchanged and they head home, Kate holding Tobin’s hand.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tobin and Kate are enjoying their camping trip in the woods. John gets a disturbing call.

“Bear spray?” Tobin asks, “Really?” She’s watching Kate finish up packing her backpack. 

“Yes,” Kate replies, “there’s black bears out there and we don’t want to run into them.” 

“Then why don’t you bring your gun?” 

Kate narrows her eyes, “Because I know it makes you nervous and you don’t like it.” 

Tobin shrugs, grins and continues to pack her remaining items. 

“Besides, then you’ll be calling me Rambo or something stupid while we’re out there.” Kate comments and Tobin laughs, knowing she’s correct. “Did you bring your flint?” Kate asks. 

“Yeah and a pack of matches,” Tobin replies, “I think we have everything, it’s only two nights.” 

She hands Kate a roll of athletic tape. 

“Am I taping your ankle or something?” Kate asks, arching an eyebrow. 

“You never know when you’ll need some tape.” Tobin replies, “You’ll thank me when you use it.” She grins at her. 

 

They’re heading over to Mt. Hood National Forest to hike and camp, nothing too strenuous as Tobin’s knee is still bothering her. They figure they’ll hike a few miles, find a spot to camp and then hang out, fish or whatever and then come back. They both like to shut down for a couple of days and be off the grid, away from technology and just enjoy the outdoors. 

Jake will be coming by the house to pick up Samson while they’re gone, looking forward to his companionship. He’s a big hit at the bar, all of the regulars ask about him and they love it when Kate or Tobin bring him in. Most times it’s Tobin, she brings him with when she goes to watch Kate play out, he keeps her calm and she doesn’t get as overwhelmed being out in public as quickly with him by her side. 

They considered bringing him with, but they know they’ll have at least one river crossing and don’t want to risk him having issues with it. So, he’ll get his own mini vacation staying with Jake and Cath. 

The ride isn’t too far, just a little over an hour, Tobin helping Kate get her pack on once they’ve parked, and easily shrugging into her own. They check in at the ranger station, both scanning the large map on the wall, deciding the route they want to take and noting where the river thins out to cross easily. There’s a couple of other people looking as well, preparing for their own adventures. They both grab maps to take with, Kate knowing Tobin will keep hers for the memories. It’s about a three mile hike to the crossing and then maybe a half mile to where they want to camp, right next to a small lake. 

The hike is nice, it’s in the low sixties and sunny, the forecast giving them three nice days with lows in the upper forties. They keep a slow pace, stopping to take photos, viewing the small waterfalls along the high ridge they follow. 

The trail brings them along the fast moving river, the water splashing at the sides, waves crashing along the rocks, making a dull roaring sound. 

“That water is moving fast!” Tobin marvels, she loves this. Nature helps settle her. 

“Yeah, and it’s really cold, too,” Kate comments, “This time of year, you’ll get hypothermia quick if you fall in.” 

“Well, then let’s not fall in, okay?” Tobin grins at her. 

The crossing is fairly easy, a large log with the top flattened out from years of use. They both cross over carefully, Tobin waiting for Kate to reach her side. 

“So, just about a half mile more and we’ll hit the lake,” Kate observes, looking up from her map. They’ve stopped to get their packs off and take a water break, watching the river move. 

“Hey, go over there, will ya?” Tobin asks, pulling her phone out, “I want to take your picture.”

Kate smiles as she moves to sit on the rocks, smiling at her wife. Tobin takes a couple of shots before coming to sit next to her, phone out for a photo of them together. 

Tobin looks down at her phone, “Huh,” she says. 

“What?” Kate questions. 

“No signal,” she replies, slipping it back into her pocket, “I was gonna post it.” 

Kate takes out her phone, seeing no signal either. “Well, we are in a forest,” she reasons. 

“Yeah,” Tobin grins, “I’ve got you all to myself.” 

Kate kisses her softly as they sit next to each other, slowly tangling her tongue with Tobin’s, tasting that unique flavor. It doesn’t take much for her to get Tobin going, raising her hand to take her breast, squeezing it slowly through the layers of fleece she’s wearing. 

She draws back, slapping Tobin’s leg, “We should get moving,” she suggests. 

“That’s so not fair,” Tobin complains, slowly following her and lifting Kate’s pack and helping her into the straps, “you’re such a tease.” 

“Patience, grasshopper,” Kate smirks at her, watching as Tobin secures her pack. Tobin grins at her, pulling on her straps, making sure they feel good, “Let’s go.” 

They make it to the lake before lunchtime, marveling at it’s beauty. It’s calm, the waves lapping gently against the shore. Tobin finds a level spot about two hundred yards away on a small sandy area to lay out the tent, while Kate begins to gather wood for a fire. 

Tobin takes off her layers as she works, not wanting to get overheated, the tent is set up, and she’s unclipping the thick fleece blanket from her pack when Kate comes back with an armful of branches. 

“I’ll get some more wood when I finish here,” she offers. 

“Sounds good,” Kate replies, setting the branches down, “I’ll get another load and then I’ll make the fire pit.” 

Tobin nods, slowly kneeling into the tent to lay the blanket out. Her knee was still bothering her, on Monday Dr. Fisher examined her and they found she had bursted a bursa sac, causing the bruising and the swelling. Doc had given her a steroid injection to relieve the inflammation, leaving it still tender. She had a neoprene sleeve on it to limit the swelling, so it was feeling pretty decent, just kneeling irritated the bruise. 

She gets their sleeping bags in the tent, unzipping them and then zipping them together to make it cozy. She leaves their packs out, knowing Kate will be going through them to get lunch ready. 

Kate comes back with her second load of sticks, one hand pulling a long dead branch behind her. 

“Wow,” Tobin says, taking it from her, “I’ll cut that up later.” 

“Thanks,” Kate says, dropping the sticks in a pile. 

Tobin removes the hand saw from her pack and heads into the woods to find some dry wood. She brings back some larger logs, knowing they will want the fire larger as the sun goes down and begins to saw them into smaller chunk. 

Kate’s bringing some rocks back from the lake shore, digging a medium sized hole before ringing it with the rocks. She starts sorting the branches into piles, making it easier to get the fire started. 

Soon the fire is going and Kate has a pot of water nestled to the side, warming it into a low boil. When Tobin finishes cutting and stacking the wood, she begins to move the sand around into the pile. 

“What are you doing?” Kate questions as she adds the soup mix into the boiling water. 

“You’ll see,” Tobin grins, making a wide mound of sand about four feet from the fire. She unclips a wool blanket and drapes it over it with a flourish. 

“You’re seating for lunch, madam.” She smiles cheesily at Kate. 

“What a great idea!” Kate exclaims, moving the pot over to lower the heat. “I’ve never seen that before.” She studies it for a moment. 

“You obviously haven’t spent as much time at the beach as I’ve had,” Tobin quips, digging in her front pocket to bring out her spoon. 

They have their soup and Tobin surprises her with a small loaf of French bread, a treat just for their trip. After cleaning the dishes, they grab their fishing gear and walk the short distance to the lake. They had purchased fishing licenses so if, by chance, they did catch something, they would have it for dinner. 

They’re enjoying the silence, just throwing their lines out, taking in the view. Kate’s a few feet to the left of where Tobin is standing when she hears a wrapper and looks over at Tobin chewing on something. 

“What are you eating?” she asks, tilting her head. 

“Uh, a cookie,” Tobin mumbles through her full mouth. 

“Can I have some?” Kate asks, moving towards her a little. 

Tobin shakes her head guiltily, “Ah, no, you can’t.” 

“You ate the whole thing and didn’t share?” Kate arches an eyebrow at her, hand on her hip. 

Tobin takes a step back, grimacing, “It was a special cookie.” 

“And I’m not special enough for you to share it?” Kate narrows her eyes. 

“Uh, it was an edible.” Tobin says, rubbing the back of her neck. 

“Oh,” Kate nods, “I see,” she says. 

“Sorry,” Tobin says, looking sheepish. Kate has abstained from marijuana use since she started undergoing her fertility treatments. Tobin avoids smoking around her as much as she can. 

“It’s okay,” Kate sighs resignedly, thinking that a chocolate chip cookie would taste so good right now. 

They fish in silence for a few minutes, before Tobin reels in her line. 

“I’ll be right back,” she says, heading back towards camp, “bathroom.” 

“I’ll be here, looking for dinner,” Kate says and then smirks, “and a cookie.” 

Moments later a small bag lands at Kate’s feet. “What’s this?” she questions, looking up at Tobin. 

Tobin grins at her and shrugs, “Check it out,” 

Kate sets her pole down, crouching to pick up the bag. She pulls the tissue out and sees a baggie. She pulls it out, looking at the cookies. 

“Where’d you get this?” she asks, wondering when Tobin had time to go to a bakery. She pulls a small round ball out, “Are these Kling’s cookie dough balls?” 

Tobin smiles and nods, “She gave some to me last night,” 

Kate pops it into her mouth, savoring the taste, “These are so good,” she says with a mouthful. 

Tobin chuckles and picks up rod, throwing out a cast, “I wouldn’t leave ya hanging,” she says, glancing over to her. 

“Thanks, asthore,” Kate smiles, “this is wonderful.” 

For the next two hours the fish are biting, with Kate and Tobin releasing their catches, none are legal size or a variety they’d want to eat. Laughing and teasing each other about the fish jumping at their lines until they agree to one last cast and they both quickly get fish on their lines, Tobin’s giving her a good fight. She backs up a little as she slowly tires it out, enjoying the battle. Kate’s was feisty but too small, releasing it quickly so she could watch Tobin haul hers in. 

“Holy crap!” Tobin exclaim as she pulls the rod up. “This guy’s a fighter!” She starts walking backwards, dragging the fish to the shore. 

“It’s beautiful!” Kate exclaims, looking at the fish Tobin is holding. She pulls her camera out and clicks a quick photo, Tobin laughing as she smiles at her. 

“It’s starting to fade,” Tobin looks at the beautiful rainbow trout. She grabs a rock, puts the fish down and smacks the head. She picks it up, walking towards Kate. 

“I’m gonna walk it down there to filet it,” she’s nodding down the lake, away from their camp. 

“Okay, I’ll get dinner started.” Kate replies, grabbing Tobin’s rod and walking back towards camp. 

 

“This is so good,” Tobin rolls her eyes as she takes another forkful of the fish. 

“It is,” Kate agrees, smiling at her. She takes a deep breath and relaxes. This feels so good, just being together, enjoying each other. 

They eat in quiet, listening to the birds as they lean back on Tobin’s sand backrest, legs crossed out in front of them. 

“Do you want to know?” Tobin asks as she sets her plate to the side and grabs her water bottle. 

“Know what?” Kate asks, Tobin always does this, asking her a random question out of the blue, as if Kate knows what she’s thinking about. 

“Oh, sorry,” Tobin chuckles, realizing what she just did, “the sex of the baby?” 

“Well, I want to be officially pregnant first,” Kate remarks. 

“Come on,” Tobin says, “just, have you thought about it?”

“I don’t want to know.” Kate says, looking over at her, “Do you?” 

Tobin smiles and shakes her head slowly, “Not really, I mean, I’d be okay if you really wanted to, but it’s, like, the best surprise ever, right?” 

Kate’s smiling at her as she nods her head rapidly. “It really is,” 

“Names?” Tobin shrugs as she asks. 

“Nothing weird,” Kate says, laying a hand on Tobin’s thigh, “No offense.” 

Tobin lets out a laugh, “That’s fine, I wouldn’t give any child a weird name like mine,” she says, scooting down so she can lean her head back, “I took so much shit for my name when I was a kid, I wouldn’t wish it on anyone.” 

“Like what?” Kate asks as she moves down as well. 

“Oh, geez, like Tobinator, Toejam, when I had my braces it was Hobin Teeth, Toby, Tobias, oh, and especially Toadbin.” 

Kate grimaces, “Sorry,” 

Tobin shrugs, “Yeah, well, kids can be mean to each other,” she says, “I got over it.” 

“So, traditional, like then?” Kate asks. 

“Yeah, that’d be cool.” Tobin agrees, linking her fingers with Kate’s. “Is it too early to talk about this? I don’t want to jinx it.”

Kate sighs and looks over at her, “Honestly, I was just thinking about that.” 

“Table it until after the first trimester?” Tobin raises her eyebrows. 

Kate nods slowly, “I would feel much better talking about it after that.” She says, squeezing Tobin’s hand. “Is that okay?” 

Tobin leans over to kiss her briefly, “It’s fine, babe, really,” she says, smiling at her, “I’d feel better too.” 

Kate kisses her deeply, tongues intertwining, and then she pulls back, their foreheads touching, “But the kid will have some kickass nicknames.” She smiles. 

“You got it!” Tobin laughs. 

Kate slaps her leg, “Let’s clean up and then take a nap,” she suggests, wiggling her eyebrows at Tobin. 

“I was thinking of putting a stew together with the fish leftovers,” Tobin states, “let me do that first and then I’ll join you.” 

“Sounds good,” Kate agrees and they get up to take care of it. 

They’re making out, hands everywhere when Tobin begins to fumble with the button on Kate’s pants. Kate brings her hand down over Tobin’s gripping it tightly. “Remember what the doctor said,” she whispers to her. 

Tobin’s panting, sucking on Kate’s neck, “Uh, what?” 

“No sex until next week.” Kate says, moving her mouth to Tobin’s collarbone, sucking on the bare skin. 

“What does she know?” Tobin asks, moaning out when Kate bites down on the base of her neck.

“Lay back,” Kate orders, her hands finding the elastic of Tobin’s Nike pros, sliding them off her, rendering her now completely bare in the tent. 

Kate lays on top of her, bringing the top of the sleeping bag over them. She massages Tobin’s breast roughly, then pinching her nipple with her fingers making Tobin arch her back and gasp. “That means,” Kate husks into Tobin’s ear, “you’re all mine, and I’m gonna have some fun with you,” 

She slides down to tongue her breast, feeling the areola under her tongue. She takes her nipple in her mouth, lightly teasing it, circling her tongue around it as Tobin raises her chest. 

“Uh,” Tobin pants, “don’t tease,” she complains. She tries to slide her leg in between Kate’s but Kate blocks her. 

“No, no, no,” she croons, “this isn’t about me, Mavourneen,” she looks up at Tobin, seeing her eyes tightly closed, mouth open and breathing heavy.   
Kate moves herself further down Tobin, head under the covers, licking at her abdominals, fingers playing with her breasts. Tobin’s hips are moving, trying to find some relief as Kate seeks her center, spreading Tobin’s legs wide as she dips her head down, taking a languid lick. 

“Ooohh,” Tobin moans, hands trailing down, trying to find Kate’s head over the covers, pressing her down slightly. 

Kate circles her clit with her tongue, then taking it into her mouth, sucking it hard. She let’s two fingers prod at Tobin’s opening, slowly entering her, feeling all of Tobin tight around them. She begins to move them slowly as she moves up Tobin’s body. Kate’s getting overheated under the covers and as her head pops up, she uses her arm to fling the covers off them both. 

She leans on her elbow with her hand firmly holding Tobin’s right breast, bending to take her right one in her mouth. She’s using her leg behind her hand, steadily pumping into her wife, making her increase her moans as she curls her fingers inside her. 

“Yes!” Tobin moans, “So good,” she pants, “right there,” her hips are bucking to meet Kate’s fingers. 

Kate knows she’s getting close, so she lays full on Tobin, rolling her over so now Tobin’s in top. Tobin lifts herself up, arms planted wide, legs flat out on each side of Kate. Kate still pumps into her, not using her leg, just her fingers. She watches as Tobin throws her head back, her long hair gloriously messy, moaning as her hips buck wildly. 

Kate stops moving inside her, and begins to furiously curl her fingers in her making Tobin nearly scream in pleasure. Tobin drops down onto Kate, her arms unsteady, shaking from her orgasm. Kate keeps her fingers in her, feeling the tightening from the aftershocks, curling when they hit. 

Tobin can’t stop moaning, her hips flinching with every movement from Kate. 

“I can’t,” she pants, “I can’t,” 

Kate stills her fingers, loving the feeling of Tobin on top of her. 

Minutes later, Tobin looks down at her, “Kate, babe,” Tobin husks after her breathing calmed down, “I love you,” 

Kate kisses her hard, moving her fingers again, Tobin moaning into her mouth, “Ride my fingers, asthore,” she slides her hip over so most of Tobin’s weight is on her good knee. 

Tobin begins grinding into her, Kate raising her hand to massage her breast. Tobin has her head down, next to Kate’s, moaning with every exhale. 

When she feels Tobin getting close, Kate slows down and slowly scoots under her, her mouth finding her center. She takes her fingers from her and grabs Tobin’s hips, driving them down as she eats her out. 

“Kate!” Tobin cries out, falling heavily to the floor of the tent, panting wildly, laying her head on her forearm. She slowly twists her hips and falls away from Kate. Completely spent. 

They drift off to sleep.

When Kate wakes, she sees Tobin is still deeply sleeping, now with an arm hanging out from under the covers, a foot sticking out as well. She’s flat on her back, head titled away from Kate, soft snores coming from her mouth. 

Kate slowly reaches for her pack, extracting her glasses and her book, snuggling back in for a bit. She reads for a while until her bladder tells her she needs to get moving, grudgingly moving the covers back, doing her best not to disturb Tobin. She quickly layers up, shoving her feet into her unlaced boots, unzipping the tent and making her way out with a shovel and biodegradable toilet paper in hand. 

When she comes in she finds Tobin now curled up, facing her, scrunched down under the covers. Kate ditches her boots, takes off her thermal jacket and slides into the sleeping bag, moving slow so Tobin doesn’t wake up. She wants her to sleep and relax. 

Tobin must sense her because she snuggles into her side, moving her head down onto her chest, draping her arm across Kate’s stomach. With this new position, Kate can’t read her book comfortably, angling it over Tobin’s head with one hand, her other softly rubbing Tobin’s back. 

Kate goes to turn the page with her fingers and the book slides out of her grasp, smacking Tobin on the side of her head. 

“Fuck!” Tobin exclaims, shooting up, her hand rubbing her head. 

“I’m so sorry!” Kate exclaims, beginning to giggle. 

“What happened?” Tobin questions, squinting as she looks around. “Why’d you hit me?” 

“I didn’t, asthore,” Kate giggles, “I swear, I didn’t. My book fell.” 

“Ow,” Tobin winces, moving over to her pile of sweatshirts she’s using as a pillow, “that hurt.” 

Kate rolls to face her, her giggling now under control. “I’m very sorry,” she says sincerely, “my book slipped out of my hand as I was turning the page.” 

Tobin nods, sleepily closing her eyes again, “Okay,” she sighs, bringing the covers back over her shoulder, falling asleep again. 

Kate smiles at her, seriously considering that she might get away with it because she’s not entirely sure Tobin will remember it happened. She reads on her side, facing her wife, until she grows tired again and nods off. 

 

“Ow,” Kate hears a mumbled cry, she cracks her eye open, seeing Tobin fully dressed and sitting cross legged next to her. Tobin’s brushing her hair and each time the brush goes over that spot on the side of her head, she winces. 

“What’s wrong, Mavourneen?” she asks, her voice sleepy. 

“I have a bruise on my head,” Tobin answers, her face knit with confusion. 

“Huh,” Kate replies, curiously, “how’d that happen?” 

Tobin shakes her head, looking at her, “I have no clue.” 

“Weird,” Kate says scrunching her nose at her. 

Tobin nods, scrunching back at her, “Yeah,”

When Tobin leaves the tent saying something about making some tea, Kate grins to herself, wondering how she can use this against her. 

 

They finish dinner as the sun begins to lower in the sky, Kate and Tobin grabbing their flashlights and heading out to the other side of the lake, taking photos of the sunset. Kate is teasing Tobin about her headset light, calling her Cyclops. Tobin has a small light fastened with a headband around the top of her beanie, insisting how wonderful it is because it leaves her hands free. Plus, it has these color filters and diffusers for using it at night. Kate chuckles and tells her she sounds like an infomercial and just shakes her head at her. 

After taking their photos and selfies, the temperature begins to drop and they make their way back to camp. At one point Tobin jogs ahead of her and gives her a light show, showing how the different colors look. Kate can hardly see her when she has the green light on, Tobin telling her it said something about being good for hunting. 

Tobin throws some logs on the fire, building it up so it keeps them warm as they lean back on the sand backrest, watching the stars come out in full display. Kate points out the constellations she knows, telling Tobin how her Father would take her and Jake out of the city into the southern suburbs of Chicago so they could see them. 

Tobin tells her how the stars seem to differ by hemisphere to her, how the Milky Way looks so close you can touch it Canada or distant in South America. 

They head to bed, sleepy from the fresh air and seeking the warmth of the sleeping bag. They both drop off quickly, Kate muzzling her head on Tobin’s chest. 

 

Tobin had proclaimed that the best way to start her day would be to take a quick dip in the lake. Kate protested until she realized how serious Tobin was and then began to prepare for when she got out of the lake, knowing she’d be freezing. 

“I take ice baths all the time,” she says confidently as she strips off her shirt, skin instantly breaking out in goosebumps, “I’m part ice bear!” she grins, shedding her sweatpants, jogging naked to the lake. 

Kate builds up the fire, gets the water going for tea and pulls out the blankets and warm clothes for her. Then she follows her to the lake with a small chamois towel. 

“Fuck!” Tobin yells, leaping from the water, stumbling to the shore.

“That was the stupidest idea ever!” Kate exclaims, watching Tobin who’s teeth are chattering as she puts on her warmest wool socks next to the roaring fire. 

“I th-thought it’d be ch-ch-chilly,” Tobin says as Kate drapes the heavy fleece blanket around her wife’s shoulders, “not fr-fr-freezing!”   
Kate hands her a mug of tea, Tobin grasping it with both hands for warmth. Kate then gets the hand shovel and starts comes back to the fire, beginning to move sand and make a trench. Using the large branch they’d been using to move the logs in the fire, she pokes at a rock that rings the fire, sliding into the shallow trench. She repeats this process and then covers the rocks with sand. 

“Stand up,” Kate says, holding a hand out for Tobin to take, pulling her up. She grabs the blanket they’d been using on the sand back rest, draping it over the sand covered rocks. 

“Now lie down here on your stomach,” she points, “the rocks will warm you up.” 

Kate slides over her, trying to get as much body contact as possible, covering themselves with the fleece blanket as well. 

They’re silent, Kate rubbing Tobin’s covered arm, Tobin beginning to shake less violently. 

“That was really stupid,” Tobin says, her voice low. 

“Let’s just look at it as a learning experience, shall we?” Kate suggests. She feels Tobin nodding her head under her. 

 

After breakfast, they spend some time hiking around the lake, looking at the colorful rocks, taking photos, and just hanging out, watching the water and talking. 

They’re sitting on a flat rock that extends over the water a bit, warmed by the sun as they talk. 

“What do you know about the stalker?” Tobin asks her.   
Kate shrugs, “Not much, we weren’t privy to her personal information,” Kate says apologetically, “maybe after she’s been formally charged, we’ll get some information. I imagine they’re still talking to her, building a case and assessing what charges will stick.” 

“Huh,” Tobin says, looking out at the water. She’s quiet for a while. “I wonder what compels them,” she says softly, shaking her head slightly, “I just don’t get it.” 

Kate scoots closer and lays her hand on Tobin’s back, “We might never know,” she says, leaning her head on Tobin’s shoulder, “I’m just glad it ended when it did.” 

Tobin takes in a deep breath, releasing it slowly, “Me too,” she says, turning her head to kiss Kate’s temple, “me too.”

When their stomachs tell them it’s time for lunch they head back to camp, heating some water and making some easy freeze-dried meals. Kate does the dishes and then leans back on the sand rest to continue reading her book while Tobin heads back to lake and fishes. 

 

“We should do this more often,” Tobin says as she kisses Kate’s cheek, snuggling into her side. They’re slouched around the fire, Kate surprising Tobin with the makings for s’mores. 

She happily bites into hers, “We could around the lake at home, but this view,” she hums. 

“I know,” Kate agrees, taking a bite of her treat, “these peaks, the forest.”   
“Yeah,” Tobin lets out a happy sigh, “this is perfect.” 

 

John is just finishing dinner when his cell phone chirps, indicating a call. He sees it’s one of the detectives from the PPB. 

“Hey Gary, what’s up?” he greets. His wife watches from across the room as John pales. 

“I don’t know, but I’ll find out and let them know.” He says, running a hand through his thinning hair. “I’ll call you right back.” He disconnects the call. 

“What’s wrong dear?” his wife Mary asks. 

He glances at her as he scrolls through his contacts, “That was PPB,” he says, “Tobin Heath’s stalker just confessed she had a partner and he’s still on the loose.” 

“No!” she exclaims quietly, standing up. 

“Yeah,” he nods, “I need to get a hold of them and let them know. He could be after them right now.”


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tobin and Kate decide to move their camping spot and encounter the man trying to ruin Tobin's sanity and possibly her life.

Phone, wallet, keys, glasses, Kate shakes her head, putting Tobin’s belongings in her own backpack. How that woman travels the globe without constantly losing her possessions is beyond Kate. She’s cleaning out the tent as they split duties packing up their camp. 

Tobin is dismantling the fire ring, moving the rocks back towards the grass line, knocking down her unique and comfortable back rest. Leaving nothing but footprints to show they were ever there. 

Tobin insisted on packing out the tent, sleeping bag, blankets, tarp and everything else, reminding Kate that she shouldn’t lifting anything heavy per doctor’s order. Kate considered arguing with her, knowing Tobin’s knee was still sore, but she didn’t. She appreciated Tobin’s thoughtfulness and really didn’t want anything to possibly harm her pregnancy. 

They begin their hike back towards the river path that will lead them to the crossing and then back out of the woods. It’s not quite as warm when they start, only in the fifties, but they’re both comfortable moving down the trail. There’s some clouds, giving the woods deep shadows as they pass under spots of bright sun. 

They had agreed the lake was cool, but they wanted to check out another spot on the other side of the river to spend their final night. So, they were heading out and they’d have a full day to explore the area. 

 

Tobin is standing on the raised mound, readying herself to cross the river. She turns to look down at Kate. 

“See you on the other side,” she grins with a head nod. 

“Be careful, Mavourneen,” Kate cautions. She scans the surrounding area, seeing a lone male hiker on the opposite side of the river, approaching them from up the river. He looks a little older than them from what she can see and he’s about sixty yards away, steadily making his way towards them. 

They haven’t seen very many people at all on this trip, just a couple here and there on the path and none by the lake at all. Kate glances up, Tobin’s more than halfway across, slowly moving with steady steps. 

The crossing is about twenty five feet wide, the river roaring loudly below the large tree branch. When Kate crossed it coming in, she could feel the vibration of the moving water but it wasn’t enough to make her feel unsafe, but it certainly made her increase her concentration moving across the log. 

Kate glances up again and sees the man drawing nearer to the opposite side, she’s wondering if he’s going to cross and explore the side they are coming from. 

Her head snaps up when she hears the thunderous crack and sees the branch collapse into the water near the far side, sending Tobin skidding forward, the log rolls upon impact in the water and twists. Tobin’s arms shoot out grasping at air as she tries to catch the log, but she falls into the water, swallowed up immediately by the fast moving current. 

“Tobin!” Kate screams as she runs down the bank of the river’s edge, eyes searching for Tobin in the water. 

Tobin’s head pops up, her heavy pack making her back arch, struggling to get her arms forward to swim towards shore. 

“This way!” Kate urges, watching Tobin drift to the other side of the river away from her. She looks up for only a second as she runs along, now seeing the man on the opposite side running to chase down Tobin. 

“Help!” Kate screams, her voice being swallowed up by the noise of the rapidly moving water. 

The man is sprinting towards Tobin, who is making slow strokes towards that side as she bounces off rocks. Her arms moving clumsily from her layers being water logged. She’s struggling to stay afloat, flailing as she’s taken by the swift current. 

“Tobin!” Kate screams again, running along, keeping her eyes on her. 

The man is yelling but Kate can’t make out what he’s saying.

Tobin is finally nearing the shoreline, the man sticking one foot in the water and pulling her out by her pack’s straps. She collapses in a heap at his feet. 

“Tobin!” Kate screams again, feeling so helpless watching the scene unfold. The man is getting the pack off Tobin, Kate can see him speaking to her, gesturing as Tobin’s arms slowly move to assist him. 

Kate is screaming across the river when the man looks up and starts pointing for her to go further up river. He’s gesturing with his hands making Kate think there’s another river crossing. She breaks out in a run, her feet flying over the dirt path along the river side, her mind swirling with awful thoughts. 

She runs for a solid ten minutes before slowing to catch her breath, the pack feeling heavy on her back. Taking a moment to grab her water bottle, Kate digs into the first pocket of her pack to find the map. 

She looks it over, orienting herself to it from where they were at the circled rover crossing and the outline of the lake they had been coming from. A sense of dread fills her as she realizes she is moving in the wrong direction. The next crossing is one they passed about a mile and a half the opposite direction. 

She’s confused if the man gave her the wrong directions or he was panicked and just pointed the wrong way in honest error. She shoves her bottle into the sleeve, shrugging her pack on as she heads back in the direction she came from, jogging as she buckles it, then running as fast as she can, fighting against the panic rising in her. 

 

 

“Mt. Hood State Park.” John says, his voice clipped. “I don’t know which station, I only know that’s where they went.” He’s on the phone with Gary from the PPB first thing in the morning after Jake texted him back. He reached out to everyone he could think of, not trying to cause a panic but to find out where Tobin and Kate were. 

“Should I go there?” he asks, unsure of what he should do. He listens. “Okay, call me when you know.” 

The cops were heading to the new suspects home in hopes of bringing him in. Another officer was calling the state park to get the registered campers and find them. 

Fuck, he thinks, I hope they’re fine and enjoying themselves and we can pick up this looney without incident.

 

 

Usually Tobin finds that moment of free falling exhilarating, but this one was filled with fear and dread. The cold instantly renders her powerless until survival mode kicks in and all she can think of was to get out of the water. When her head goes below the surface, she fights to hold her breath, her lungs straining to breath out from the iciness surrounding her. 

She begins to kick, feeling the strong current taking her downstream, trying to angle herself towards the shoreline. All she can hear is the roar of the rapids, her backpack dangerously titling her on her back, making her struggle to get her arms in the water to swim. 

She’s completely soaked, her clothing heavy, making her movements clumsy and slow. Her bad knee crashes against a rock, making her cry out, swallowing water and clouding her head with pain, replacing the freezing grip threatening to overtake her senses. She’s coughing as she’s carried along through the rapids, slowly edging her way towards the river bank. 

She moves steadily, kicking herself away from the rocks she slams into, trying to stay afloat, her hearing warbled from the amount of water rushing around her head. She’s tiring out, this is hard work and the cold seeping into her bones is quickly taking her strength away, making her feel useless and uncoordinated. 

Her hands are too cold to grip the rocks, they slide out from her grasp, but she pushes, keeps moving, keeps angling herself towards the shore. 

She sees a flash of color on the shoreline, moving her head to catch a glimpse of it, water smacking upside her and then everything gets blurry. Her contacts are gone. 

Her knees hit the bottom of the river, she’s using her hands to climb over the rocks, slipping, bouncing off them. Her hand shoots out and slips off the slick stone, sending her forward, crashing into it. She feels the cold of the rock, then the pain of the contact. The impact rattles her teeth, she winces in pain, knowing instantly she’s got a shiner. That’s the least of my worries, she thinks wryly.

Get to shore, get out of these wet clothes, do some exercises, dry off, get in dry clothes, make a fire. All these thoughts pass through her mind as she feels herself being lifted up, out of the water. 

She lands in a heap on the ground, shaking uncontrollably, trying to get the backpack off, flailing around like a fish just brought in on a line. Hands touch her, shrugging the pack off, unzipping her jacket. 

Soon, she’s just in her sports bra and Nike Pros, boots off, a blanket draped over her as she shivers violently. 

She finally begins to focus and sees a bearded man bending over her pack, tossing items out, pulling out clothes. 

“Here,” he says, tossing clothes towards her, “dry off and get in these.” 

He turns to his pack as Tobin uses the blanket to dry herself as best she can and get into her sweats and a fleece top with shaking hands. She’s struggling to pull her thick wool socks, when he kneels in front of her, helping get them on. 

“Th-th-thanks,” she stutters, still shaking, her skin feeling on fire. She clumsily wraps the blanket around herself, rocking back and forth, trying to generate some heat.

Kate. Where’s Kate, Tobin thinks. 

“Your friend is running to the next river crossing,” the man says, “it shouldn’t take her too long to get here.” 

The man looks up and scans the opposite side of the river, then kneels again. Tobin’s chattering away, eyes closed, trying to picture herself on a beach in the hot sun, when she hears metal drop at her feet. 

She looks up and sees the smirk on the bearded man’s face.

“Alright, Heath,” he growls, “you better stand up and move or I’ll be dragging you.” 

His face isn’t familiar, but his voice is to Tobin, she’s confused, trying to rack her brain. 

Even though he’s blurry to her and she can feel her right eye swelling shut from the rock she hit, she gets a glimpse of his eyes. 

Fuck, she thinks, it’s Clark. The last time she saw him was her first time back at Providence Park to watch a match after her attack and kidnapping. He was drunk and ended up getting arrested. She had heard he lost his job but doesn’t know what else happened. She didn’t follow the news, she had just wanted to stop thinking about it. 

“You fucking ruined my life, Heath, and now I’m going to ruin yours.” He says, standing over her.

 

 

Even though Tobin had insisted on carrying the heavier items, Kate is out of breath when she reaches the crossing where Tobin fell. She slows her pace, jogging, scanning the opposite shoreline for Tobin and the stranger. 

She sees the man bending over Tobin, pulling items from her pack, she increases her speed, blazing down the path. 

There it is, there it is, there it is, Kate is chanting about ten minutes later as she sees the crossing coming into view. She stops and takes a moment to slow her breathing. I need to concentrate on this, she thinks, I can’t be falling in myself, alone. 

She scales the low rocky build up, eye balling the log that awaits her. One step at a time, she thinks, placing her right foot on it, relax and take it easy. She’s almost across when she feels the log shift slightly, she hesitates and then instinct kicks in and skips across it quickly, hearing the loud crack and splash behind her. 

Standing on the other side, she looks back and sees the smooth cut on the log. It was intentional, she thinks, her heart hammering in her chest. What the fuck is going on? 

She scrambles down the rocks and makes the dirt kick out under her boots as she runs as fast as she can back upstream to Tobin. 

 

 

Tobin can’t stop shaking and she’s not sure if it’s from fear or hypothermia. Clark is bent over, fiddling with the handcuffs he dropped at her feet. 

“I’m going to make you pay, Heath,” he mutters.

“Hey!” A voice calls out, “You okay?” 

Both and Tobin turn their heads to see a man and woman approaching at a jog. 

“Don’t say a word,” Clark growls, stuffing the handcuffs back in his pack. “I’ll kill you right here.” 

“We should start a fire,” the woman says, surveying Tobin shaking. She takes a knee in front of her, “Are you alright,” Tobin can only nod, but the look of terror on her face when she glances at Clark makes the woman suspicious. Tobin’s breathing is rapidly picking up, a sense of dread fills her that Clark might somehow be involved in this latest stalking issue.

“Come on, let’s move you over here,” the woman suggests, “sir, help me, will you?” 

Clark reluctantly grabs at Tobin, roughly handling her as they lift her back from the river edge. 

“Colin!” the woman calls out, “we need a fire quick!” 

“On it!” he replies, bending over to gather kindling. 

“Sir,” she says, “would you gather some branches for a fire, we need to warm her up,” 

“Of course,” he says curtly, moving away from them, side eying Tobin. 

She gets Tobin’s pack and brings it next to her, “My name is Sarah,” she introduces herself, “can I go through your pack to look for something warmer?” 

Tobin nods, still shaking under the blanket. “Na-na-name is To-To-bin.” 

Sarah leans close to her, Tobin’s small chamois in her hand. She starts to dry her hair a bit, “Are you afraid of him?” she whispers, looking intently at her. 

“Yes,” Tobin nods, “s-s-s-so s-s-sc-sca-sca-scared.” She’s shuddering as she fights against the rising momentum of a panic attack.

“Okay, we’ll get you dried up and feeling better in no time,” she smiles, speaking louder, patting her shoulder, pulling the beanie from her own head and placing it on Tobin. She glances and sees Clark watching them as he slowly gathers wood. 

Colin comes back, dumping branches and dropping to his knees, patting his pockets for his matches. “You really took a spill!” he says, “We crossed that yesterday and it felt fine, I wonder what happened.” 

“Here, let’s put these on,” Sarah orders, holding a pair of mittens. She fumbles with a plastic package, opening it and placing a little pouch in each mitten, “hand warmers,” she says, helping put them on Tobin, “I can’t stand my hands being cold.” 

“Th-th-thanks!” Tobin says, tearing up at her gratefulness.

Clark dumps a load of branches near them, barely concealing his anger. 

Sarah smiles brightly at him, “Sir, could you get a couple of those rocks from there?” she asks sweetly, pointing about twenty feet away, “I want to warm them up for her.” 

“Sure,” he nearly growls, turning his back, walking away. 

As soon as he’s out of ear shot, she whispers, “Colin!” 

He looks up from the small fire he’s got going. 

“She’s afraid of him, watch him closely.” He barely nods, going back to working the fire. 

“This is dry and looks warm,” Sarah says, her voice louder as she's holding up one of Tobin’s dry fleece jackets, “let’s get this on.” 

She helps Tobin get into it. “We’ll keep you safe, don’t worry.” She says quietly as she helps her get a sleeve on. Tobin can’t stop the tears falling. She’s so cold and scared.

“So. Scared,” Tobin mumbles, still feeling the bone chilling cold. She’s breathing heavy, fighting her rising panic. 

Sarah goes back to her pack, unclipping her sleeping bag and unfurling it next to Tobin. 

“Are you hurt anywhere else?”  
Tobin shakes her head, trying to scoot over into the bag. Sarah zips it up and lays the blanket on it. She watches as Clark comes back and sees a figure down stream running towards them. 

“Tobin!” the woman is yelling. It’s Kate. 

She passes Clark quickly and comes to a stop at the sleeping bag, panting. 

“K-K-K-Ka-Kate!” Tobin cries out.

“Asthore, are you alright?” Kate asks her, kneeling beside her, lifting the sleeping bag so she can hold her. Tobin nods. 

“Thank you so much!” Kate exclaims to the trio in front of her. 

“No problem!” Colin says, sticking a hand out, “I’m Colin and this is my girlfriend Sarah.” He looks over his shoulder, “And you are?” looking at Clark. 

“Gary.” He nods. 

“I’m Kate and I’m so grateful to you all,” Kate says, tears coming to her eyes, “I don’t know what happened to that log.” 

“I know!” Colin agrees, stoking the fire, “It was fine yesterday.” 

“The one downstream was cut,” Kate informs, “I just barely made it over.” 

Colin raises his eyebrows, glancing at Sarah who moves to the fire with a metal container of water to warm. 

“That’s weird,” she says, “I wonder what’s going on.” 

Colin shrugs, “Probably some weird protest group or something.” 

Kate eyes them with a passive face as she holds Tobin. Something’s not right and she doesn’t know what it is yet. Sarah seems like she’s trying to orchestrate something. 

“Tobin, I’m making you some tea.” Sarah states, “that should warm you up in no time.” 

“Thanks, so, so, much.” She stutters, finally feeling some warmth in her. She’s still shaking but her adrenaline is shooting through her body. 

“Gary?” Sarah calls out, “we’ve got this if you want to head out,” 

He frowns, “I can stay to help.” He says flatly. “You might need to carry her out.” 

“That’s cool,” she smiles “would you mind getting some more wood? Colin’s a firebug.”

“Sure,” he says, “no problem.” He turns to start looking around downstream. 

“I’m gonna put some soup on,” Colin announces, digging in his pack. 

“Why are you scared of him?” Sarah asks Tobin, her voice low. 

“K-Kate,” Tobin says quietly, “it’s Cl-Cl-Clark.” 

Kate scrunches up her face. 

“Th-th-the r-r-r-reporter f-fr-fr-from my first game b-b-b-ba-back.” Tobin adds. 

Kate sets her mouth and nods grimly. 

“Colin,” Kate whispers, “he’s dangerous. Don’t turn your back on him.” She warns. 

He nods casually, stirring the pot and shifting his weight. 

As Clark approaches, Colin stands up. “Thanks man,” he says, putting his arms out for the wood, moving it next to Tobin and setting his space up there. 

“Hey, I have some soup on,” he says, his tone friendly, “it’s about lunch time somewhere.” He shrugs. “Want to eat with us?” 

Clark/Gary shrugs, looking around and finding a rock to the side to sit on. His eyes dart amongst them, his face unreadable. 

Kate shrugs off her pack, casually going through it. “Are your feet warm enough?” she asks Tobin, “I’ve got another pair of socks.” 

Kate moves her pack, keeping the bear spray handy and as she sits on a rock, she unsnaps the clasp on her knife. She drags Tobin near her, letting her lean against her legs, closer to the fire. 

“You’re safe now,” Kate says softly to Tobin, “everything is going to fine. We’ll get you warmed up and out of here.” She rubs her shoulders and feels her shaking still. Tobin nods, keeping her head low. A quiet sob escapes from Tobin, who shrinks down into the sleeping bag. 

Kate goes back into her pack, pulling out their bear bag. “Who’s hungry?” she smiles at the group. 

They eat in a semi-circle facing Clark, who’s keeping to himself. Kate’s helping Tobin drink her soup because she’s shaking so badly as Colin and Sarah tell them where they were on their trip, telling them about a spot further in that’s beautiful. 

Sarah explains they are both product testers for REI so this was actually a business trip for them. Colin further explains what their jobs entail. Clark offers up that he’s a writer, working on a book. 

Kate shares about her and Tobin, just saying she works at Providence Park and Tobin is a pro player. Colin and Sarah nod with recognition, congratulating Tobin on the season. 

Kate can feel Tobin sinking against knees and she leans over to see her, “You okay, asthore?” 

Tobin rubs her forehead, squinting, “Glasses?” she asks. 

“Oh, yeah,” Kate replies, twisting to look in her pack, “I have them.” She hands them over. 

“Contacts came out in the water.” Tobin explains, sliding them on with a shaky hand. “Kate!” she says, reaching her shaking hand out to grab at her, terrified of Clark. 

“It’s okay, you’re going to be fine,” she comforts, “do you have a headache?” Kate asks, rubbing her shoulders. Tobin nods. Kate’s trying her best to act normal and remain calm. 

Their heads turn downstream when they hear the whine of ATVs coming towards them. Clarks stands, eyes blazing, looking at the group, he stoops and grabs a branch swinging it at Colin as he tries to stand up, sending him to the ground. 

Sarah gets pushed to the ground by Clark as Tobin panics, kicking in her sleeping bag, frantically trying to squirm away. Kate stands, the bear spray in her hand, releasing a blast as Clark comes at them. 

He screams as the spray hits him, hands to his eyes, with Kate moving forward to drop him to the ground, Colin staggering over, keeping him in place with an arm bar. 

Sarah scrambles towards Tobin, who’s battling against the sleeping bag, terrified beyond reason. Sarah grabs at her, holding her from behind, telling her she’s okay. 

Once Kate’s positive Colin is fine and Clark is secure, she kneels in front of Tobin, who’s sobbing. 

“It’s okay,” she croons, “it’s okay, it’s over.” She rubbing Tobin’s shoulders, “Concentrate on your breathing, Mavourneen,” she says, “let’s get it under control.” 

She glances up at Sarah, who’s wide eyed, “She’s having a panic attack,” Kate explains as Sarah nods slowly. 

Tobin’s shuddering, trying to get herself under control. She’s nodding at Kate, panting as she works hard to stop her out of control breathing. “Kate!” she cries, chest heaving.

“There you go,” Kate encourages, “nice and easy, just keep slowing it down,” Kate looks over her shoulder, breathing a sigh of relief seeing the Rangers getting off their vehicles. 

She looks back at Tobin, “Sweetie, I need to go talk to the Rangers so they can take Clark away, alright?” she asks. 

Tobin’s eyes flash fear, but she nods rapidly, her breathing beginning to slow. “Sarah?” Kate asks, “Can you stay with her and maybe get her some water?” 

“Absolutely!” Sarah nods, slowly sliding from behind Tobin, keeping a hand on her shoulder, squatting down as Kate gets up. 

Kate strides over to the first Ranger who’s eying the scene. 

“I’m Kate Doyle Heath and Tobin Heath is over there,” she jerks her hand towards her. 

The female officer gives her a wry smile, “Ranger McMillan. Ma’am, I’m here to bring you back, we got a call that a stalker may be following you.” 

“You got a name on that stalker?” Kate asks, gesturing to Colin still holding Clark. 

“Clark Wendell.” She replies. 

Kate points, “He’s right over there.”

“We’ll bring him in,” she says with a brisk nod, “uh, is everyone here okay?” She’s eying Tobin in the sleeping bag. 

“My wife needs medical attention, she fell in the river.” Kate says, looking back at her. Sarah is speaking to her and she sees Tobin giving her a small smile. 

“The med unit is just a few minutes behind us, I’ll radio them.” The Ranger replies, turning briskly, gesturing to the officer Rangers. They meet quickly and approach Colin and Clark, relieving Colin of his task and taking Clark into custody. 

Clark begins fighting and screaming, battling against the officers as they hustle him to one of the ATVs. 

Kate kneels in front of Tobin, “How are you doing, asthore?” she asks gently, holding a hand tenderly to her face. 

Tobin looks at her with a sleepy eye, “Okay,” she says, exhaustion overcoming her. 

“Just hang on, help will be here to check you out,” Kate says, leaning over to hug her. Tobin begins crying softly, her arms now free from the sleeping bag, her mittened hands clutching at Kate. 

Sarah and Colin begin to silently clean up camp, working together without speaking, picking up belongings, gathering Tobin’s wet gear and placing it in a pile. 

More ATVs pull up, Rangers coming over with Medic shields, introducing themselves to the group. Kate explains what happened, Tobin providing details of her head wound. They begin to check her over, taking her temperature, blood pressure, and the other necessities. 

Kate moves over to speak with Colin and Sarah, thanking them profusely for their help and skill at keeping Clark at bay and oblivious to their knowledge of him. 

They exchange numbers, promising to get together soon and have dinner on Kate and Tobin. 

They bid Tobin a quick goodbye, then make their way to one of the Rangers, providing their information and telling their statements about the events that had transpired. 

Kate kneels next to Tobin, holding her hand and stroking her forehead. 

“Her temp is low but good,” one of the medics state, “she’s probably in stage one or two of hypothermia. She’ll be fine. I’d still have her head looked at, we can transport her if you want.” 

Tobin looks at her fearfully, shaking her head. 

“I’ll bring her in on the way home,” Kate nods, “as long as you think she’s stable enough for me to do that.” 

“That would be fine,” he says, giving Tobin a grin, “just go straight there, okay though?” 

Tobin nods, giving him a thumbs up with her mitten. 

He packs up his gear, “We’ll give you guys a lift back, you’re parked in the main lot, right?” 

“Yeah,” Kate nods, “that would be great.” 

“I’ll get it set up and then we’ll move out.” He says, getting up and walking over to the second ATV. 

Ranger McMillan approaches, “We’ve got his belongings,” she says, “he’ll be transferred to PPB when they get him back.” She squats down, “Mrs. Heath, are you up to answering a few questions about today?” 

Tobin nods, her face down. 

She makes it brief, only relating it to today’s events. Kate appreciates her professionalism as she holds Tobin’s still shaking hand. Tobin answers her questions concisely with short answers. 

“We may need to follow up,” she states as she stands, “but I think we have all of the information we need today. Thank you for your cooperation, I’m very sorry this happened.” 

“Oh,” Kate says, “you may want to check the river crossings,” she says, “the one downstream was cut, and I think maybe this one was.” 

Oh!” she says, her eyes wide. “Good call,” she nods, “I’ll get a crew out here now.” 

As she walks away, she’s on her two-way radio, speaking with a hand waving in the air. 

 

It’s just Kate and Tobin, Kate holding her in her arms, in the back of the ATV, Tobin trying not to sleep.

“You alright?” Kate questions. 

“Yeah,” Tobin replies, “just a headache.” 

“Your knee?” Kate raises an eyebrow. 

“Uh, yeah,” Tobin says, yawning, “it hurts.”

“Think you can walk?” she questions. 

Tobin shrugs, “I really don’t know.” 

“Okay,” Kate says, kissing her cheek, “we’ll take it slow.” 

Tobin turns to her, “I love you.” 

“I love you, too.” Kate says, hugging her close, “So much.”

Kate holds her as they sit in the back of the ATV, Tobin’s head on her shoulder, body swaying with the movement of the machine. She’s nearly asleep as they get to the parking lot, slowly getting out of the ATV, gingerly limping to the car. 

One of the medics helps Kate and loads up the gear, making sure to include Sarah’s sleeping bag. Tobin and Kate profusely thank the Rangers for all of their help before starting the car. 

They sit in the lot, Kate powering up her phone, reviewing the texts and voice mails she’s missed. She calls John before they leave the lot, reassuring him they are fine but Tobin will be getting checked out at the hospital. 

She calls Jake, using the Bluetooth so she can speak while she drives, reviewing briefly what happened. John had called him as well trying to find them so he was concerned.  
Tobin is leaning back in her seat, still covered up by the sleeping bag. Kate holds her trembling hand as they drive, speaking to Tobin to keep her awake until they get to the hospital. 

“Stay awake,” Kate urges her, “we’ll be there soon.” 

“C-C-Cl-Cl-Clark,” Tobin stutters, fear evident in her voice. 

“I know,” Kate says, “just hang on. You’re gonna be fine.”


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tobin recovers from her tangle with the river and Clark. Slowly she's works through her issues so she and Kate can face the next chapter of their lives: possibly having a baby.

“X-rays and CAT scan showed nothing, her head is fine. She’s got a nasty bruise on her knee though.” Liz says, hugging Kate next to Tobin’s bed in the Emergency Room bay. “We wrapped it and I’m giving her crutches until she gets it checked out with her doctor.” 

“Her core temp is back to normal,” Liz states, now rubbing Kate’s back, “I gave her a light sedative because she was becoming anxious.” 

“How anxious?” Kate asks, holding Tobin’s hand under the thick warming blanket. 

“Not bad,” Liz says, “but knowing her history, I didn’t want her to escalate.” 

Kate nods, looking at Tobin’s sleeping form. 

“So you didn’t knock her out?” Kate asks, leaning over to brush away some hair from Tobin’s face. 

“No,” Liz says, looking at her chart, “just enough to chill her out, she’s probably exhausted from it all.” 

Kate nods, sitting down in the chair next to the bed. She looks at Liz. 

“It’s slow here tonight, so I’m going to keep her here for a bit and not admit her, I want to run another blood and urine panel just to make sure she’s fine.” Liz knows Tobin is uncomfortable with hospitals. 

“Thanks,” Kate says quietly, knowing Liz is looking out for Tobin. 

Liz had declared Tobin suffered from mild to moderate hypothermia and didn’t think she would have any lasting issues from it. She was responding well to treatment, but she was erring on the side of caution and wanted to watch her for just a little longer. 

One of the nurses called to Liz and she rubs Kate’s back, “I’ll be back soon,” she says, drawing the curtain back, “just hang tight.” 

 

“Here?” a male’s voice says on the other side of the curtain. It swipes open, Jake looking in. “Kate!” he says, striding over to her, “Are you guys alright?” 

Kate nods, standing to crash into him. She begins crying, the emotions of the day catching up with her. 

“Tobin’s okay, right?” Jake asks cautiously as he holds her. 

Kate nods into his chest, “Uh huh,” she sniffles.

Jake holds her for a few minutes, swaying ever so slightly, rubbing her back. “I brought you something to eat,” he says, letting his hand fall from her back. 

She looks at him as he dangles a bag in front of her, “Grilled cheese and some chips?” he smiles at her, knowing it’s her go to food. 

“You’re wonderful!” she says, taking the bag from him and sitting down again. 

“So, they caught the guy, huh?” Jake asks as she eats. 

Kate nods while she chews, “It was that fucking reporter that harassed her a couple of years ago.” 

“What the fuck?” Jake shakes his head. 

“I know, right?” Kate agrees, “She didn’t do a fucking thing to him. He was a drunk, he got himself fired, like, how did Tobin play into any of it?” 

“Fuck,” Jake says softly. 

“Our lawyers will be all over this.” Kate says, her voice low with anger, “I want separate charges, separate concurrent sentences upon conviction. I want that fucker to pay for this.” 

“Okay, Tiger,” Jake says, “easy there, let’s just chill and get her home first, okay?” he says gently. 

“I want that motherfucker put in the shittiest prison to rot.” She says angrily, voice rising. “For all the anguish he put her through?” 

“Kate,” Jake says firmly, his voice low, “this isn’t the place for that right now. There are eyes and ears everywhere and Tobin needs you.” 

Kate takes a deep breath, exhaling it through her mouth, counting to ten in her head. “You’re right,” she says, nodding to him, “I’m sorry, you’re right.” 

“I understand,” he says, leaving his chair and standing next to her with his hand on her shoulder, squeezing it gently, “I do. If you want to yell or scream about it, tell me and I’ll meet you in the barn. Away from,” he jerks his head towards Tobin, “she doesn’t need to hear it right now.” 

Kate lays her hand on his, “Yeah,” she says, “I got it, I’m good.” She knows Jake is right. 

“Good,” he says and leans over to kiss the top of her head, “how long is she here for?” he questions. 

“Just a little while,” Kate replies, “Liz wants to run some more bloodwork and stuff.” 

He taps her back and grabs his chair, moving it close to Kate and pulling the table between them. He fishes in his back pocket and pulls out a deck of cards. “Blackjack?” 

Kate grins and nods, “When I finish eating. You’re so going down.” 

 

The nurse had come in about an hour later, drawing blood, taking a urine sample and removing the catheter. Liz came in an hour after that, saying she was discharging Tobin, everything looked good. 

“Tobin?” Kate calls out gently, laying her hand on Tobin’s forehead, softly stroking the skin in between her eyebrows with the side of her thumb, “Asthore, it’s time to wake up.”

Tobin moans quietly, turning her head away. 

Kate had to call her a few times before she stirs, sleepily grinning. 

“Hey,” she says, her voice rough, “what’s up?” she asks. 

“We’re gonna go home,” Kate says, smiling at her. 

“Wait,” Tobin says, squinting as she looks around, confused, “where are we?” 

“The hospital, asthore,” Kate replies, “we got you checked out after your fall in the river.” Kate watches intently as the confusion on Tobin’s face slowly melts as she remembers the events of the day. 

Tobin looks at her, fear in her eye, “They got him, right?” 

Kate nods, “He’s locked up. You’re safe, it’s over.” 

Tobin bites her bottom lip, nodding, glancing around the room. “Hey Jake,” she says quietly. 

“Hey,” Jake greets, just as quiet. 

Kate hands Tobin her glasses, “Let’s get your clothes on and go home, okay?” 

Tobin scratches at her neck, nodding, “Okay.” 

Jake steps out to find a nurse for discharge while Kate helps Tobin get dressed. 

“Woah,” Tobin says when Kate removes the blanket and she sees her well wrapped leg, “uh, what’s going on with this?” she asks, her stomach dropping. 

“It’s just the bruise, but Liz wants you to be non-weight bearing until you follow up with Doc.” Kate explains. 

Tobin lets out a breath of relief, “Okay,” she says. 

Kate helps her into her clothes and they finish just as the nurse arrives with Jake. 

“Ready to go home?” the chipper nurse asks. 

“So much,” Tobin smiles at her. 

Jake ends up following them home, helping Tobin from the car and then telling them he would drop off Samson later tomorrow afternoon before he left for the night. 

 

 

Kate sips her tea as she nods while listening to Doc. 

“So, Dr. Berkin forwarded me her charts and the scans,” she says, “I think we’ll let Tobin stay wrapped and non-weight bearing until Tuesday when I see her, okay?” 

“Yeah, sure,” Kate replies. 

“I think that will force her off her feet and let the swelling come down.” Doc explains. “I know how hard it is for her to stay inactive.” 

“Right,” Kate says, looking at Tobin crashed out on the couch. It’s Saturday afternoon and Kate has been on the phone most of the morning. She let Tobin’s family know what had happened and how he stalker was in Police custody, preparing them for the media stories that were sure to coming out shortly. 

She spoke with John, catching up with what he knew about the whole situation, thanking him for leading the authorities to them. They spoke at length about what, if any, other precautions they could take for protecting all of the Thorns players from having this type of situation be repeated. 

When they had finally gotten home last night, Tobin was sleepy from the sedative and went to bed immediately, even though Kate urged her to eat something. 

Sometime around four in the morning, Kate felt the bed dip and heard Tobin crutching to the bathroom. Her head shot up when she heard Tobin crutching out of the room. She followed her to the kitchen where Tobin was retrieving the bread, jam and peanut butter. 

“Asthore,” she says, “sit down and I’ll make you a sandwich,” she yawns as she lays a hand on her shoulder. 

“I can do it,” Tobin says, “it’s alright.” 

“I got it,” Kate elbows past her and opens the bread bag, “get yourself something to drink.” 

They sit at the kitchen table, Kate munching on a half of sandwich she made for herself. She wasn’t even halfway through it when Tobin finished hers. 

“You want another one?” she asks her, taking a bite of her own. 

“Nah,” Tobin yawns, “I just needed a little something,” she says, “thanks.” 

“You feeling okay?” she asks her. 

Tobin nods, squinting at her, she hadn’t put on her glasses when she got up. “Yeah, just super tired.” 

“Well,” she pops the last of her sandwich in her mouth, rising to pick up the paper towels she had put them on, “let’s go,” she says with her mouth full as chews. 

Tobin grabs her crutches and follows her to the hallway. She stops short for a moment and then crutches over to the front door, making sure the alarm is set and the door is locked as well as the windows, then crutching past a waiting Kate to check the rest of the house. 

Kate says nothing as she Tobin meets her again, she simply places a hand on her back, rubs it for a moment and then proceeds to their bedroom. 

They awoke around ten and sauntered out to the kitchen, Kate making breakfast sandwiches that they ate on the couch. She helped Tobin get set up there, pillows under her leg, a comforter over her as she feel back asleep on the couch. 

She curled up on the recliner after grabbing her phone and her notepad, making her list of people to contact and starting the calls. After she gets off her phone, she grabs the throw blanket behind her, reclines the chair and naps as well. 

 

It’s Sunday and one of the detectives from PPB had come by in the afternoon to question them and fill them in on the case. Gary and Kate don’t know each other personally, but he was extending professional courtesy with her having been a cop and being fairly well known for her skill. 

Clark was fired from the media company after his banning from Providence Park and DUI arrest. The impression Gary got was that Clark had many complaints against him from many people he interviewed and wrote about. The company saw this as the last straw and wanted to separate themselves from the negative media storm he was creating. 

His ex-wife reported that he became verbally abusive and it escalated one night to physical abuse after he had been drinking. He refused to go to counseling, refused any type of treatment and she feared for their children and left him. 

The court favored her opinion that he was potentially harmful to their children and granted supervised visitation unless he sought treatment and showed improvement. He refused. 

Over the next year, he became withdrawn, writing scathing articles about the Thorns and Timbers players, raking them over the coals about their playing abilities and creating rumors about their private lives. Gavin and Merritt went to court seeking injunctions and threatening libel charges, trying to get the website he was writing for to pull the articles.   
At some point Clark must have decided to act out his anger and chose to focus on Tobin, being aware of her previous experience and wanting to inflict as much mental pain on her as he could possibly could. He was dating a woman who was willing to do anything for him and he began to hatch his plan. 

He knew the in and outs of Providence Park and had traveled to many of the other stadiums and fields the Thorns played in, creating realistic badges for access, offering bribes to unknowing staff members at the away games and even hiring the man in Miami to mug her. He used his girlfriend to execute many of the incidents, providing her with all the information she needed to be successful. 

 

Tobin listened as the detective spoke, nodding and wincing as he reviewed the details, her good leg bouncing and Kate squeezing her hand. When the detective finished up, they thanked him and he departed. 

It was then that Tobin lost her composure, crying as Kate held her, a mix of reliving the pain she suffered and relief that it was over. Kate held her, crying softly as well, so worried over her wife and praying that she wouldn’t have any lasting issues to deal with. 

 

“I’m gonna call Jen and make an appointment,” Tobin says quietly as they eat dinner, “I’m not sure how I feel about things.” 

“Okay,” Kate says, “that’s a good idea.” 

Tobin takes a sip of her water, “I just don’t want to have a set back or anything, I’m worried about having nightmares or walking around and not knowing what I’m doing.” 

Kate reaches her hand across the table and places it over Tobin’s, “Mavourneen,” she says quietly, “I understand you need to process what you’ve gone through. We both do.” 

Tobin nods at her, looking down for a moment before looking back up into her eyes, “I just need to feel stable if we’re going to have a baby,” she says, her voice barely above a whisper. 

Kate squeezes her hand, “I know,” she says, “I know.” 

 

 

Tobin slides into the driver’s seat, grinning like crazy, looking over at Kate. Kate is wiping her eyes and smiling at her wife. It’s Wednesday morning and they have just left the doctor’s office. Dr. Chen had confirmed that Kate was pregnant, her counts looked wonderful and she didn’t see any issues. The two burst into tears, hugging each other, then hugging the doctor and even the nurse who was in the room with them. 

“We’re gonna have a baby,” Tobin says, her voice full of wonder. 

Kate nods, struggling to form words. “I love you,” she says, her voice breaking. 

Tobin leans across her seat to kiss Kate, “I love you.” 

 

 

It’s a week later and Kate is worried. At lunch she proposed they go out to one of Tobin’s favorite breweries and she refused and then offered to cook. Kate sat in front of the TV as Tobin cooks and then realizes they haven’t left the house for a week except for Tobin’s doctor’s appointment on Tuesday and then Kate’s on Wednesday. Tobin’s talked to Jen twice on the phone, not going to her office for her appointments. 

Kate hasn’t said anything to Tobin about her getting high every day, she knows it helps her relax but combining that with not leaving the house is cause for her to worry. She wonders when the best opportunity will be to bring it up with her so they can talk What pushed over the ledge was a text she received from a concerned Sinc asking if everything was okay since Tobin hadn’t returned any calls or texts from her. 

 

They’re snuggled in the couch, Samson wedged in the corner, Tobin laying back on top of Kate under a blanket. They’re contemplating what to do for dinner hen Kate decides to just ask her. 

“Tobin?” she asks, Tobin turning to look at her since she hardly ever addresses her that way. 

“What?” she looks at her curiously. 

“Asthore, what’s going on?” Kate asks quietly. 

“Arsenal is winning,” Tobin replies, looking back at the TV. 

Kate shifts and sits up, her hands pushing Tobin up as well. “What’s going on with you?” she asks, 

Kate knows the look Tobin gives her, it’s the one that says she doesn’t want to talk but knows Kate won’t let up. 

Tobin sighs and looks down. 

“Tobin, we haven’t left the house all week, you’ve been high every day.” She says, her voice serious. “What is wrong?” 

Tobin’s still not looking at her. Eyes focused on the rug in front of her. She takes a breath and opens her mouth to speak and then shuts it. 

“I’m terrified to leave the house.” Tobin says quietly, looking up at Kate, a lone tear rolling down her face. “I get sick to my stomach every time I think about going out.” 

She drops her elbows to her knees, leaning forward to put her hands to her head. “I panic when I think about it. I just get so scared. I can’t stop it.” She begins to cry, shoulders shuddering as Kate engulfs her in a hug, holding her. 

After a few minutes, Kate releases Tobin from her grasp and looks at her as she wipes her tears. “Have you spoken to Jen about this?” 

Tobin shamefully shakes her head. 

“Okay,” Kate nods, “okay.” she says, wrapping an arm around Tobin’s shoulders. 

They sit in silence. Kate’s mind spinning. 

“Tobin, you can’t live your life like this.” Kate states softly. “We need to work to get you past this.” 

“I know,” Tobin says, her voice cracking. 

“I’m going to call Jen and have her come out here as soon as she can.” Kate says firmly. “She needs to see you and help you through this.” 

Tobin nods as she swipes her hand under her nose. 

 

 

“Just let her do her thing,” Jen says quietly as Kate watches Tobin methodically clean the kitchen. It’s now the end of January and Tobin’s anxiety about leaving the house has lessened only to be replaced by a compulsion to clean and organize everything. 

“It’s a trade off,” Jen says. Kate nods. Jen came over for dinner and Tobin insisted on cleaning up. 

“It’s actually getting better.” Kate replies. She smiles. “I’m going to miss it when she stops.” 

Jen laughs. 

“Hey Asthore!” Kate calls out.

“What?” Tobin asks, looking up from the sauce pan she was cleaning. 

“Tell Jen what you did last night.” Kate grins at her. 

Tobin makes a face back, giving her a sarcastic smile. “I organized the books.”

“In the office?” Jen asks. One wall in the office has wall to wall cabinet with a counter midway and bookshelves going across the whole thing. There’s hundreds of books. Tobin nods. 

“There wasn’t any rhyme or reason to them.” Tobin explains. “It’s been that way since I moved in.” Kate had cleared almost half of the bookshelves that were filled with incidental items to make room for Tobin’s collection of books.

“And you,” she points to Kate, “don’t be all sassy about it, you helped.” 

Jen arches an eyebrow at Kate as she glances over at her. 

Kate laughs, “Okay, maybe I threw out some suggestions.” She admits. 

“Ha!” Tobin laughs, placing the dish towel across the oven door to dry and then coming into the family room to sit in the recliner. “You fed my compulsion.” She accuses with smile.   
Tobin now freely admits she has an issue with her cleaning and organizing and is fine joking about it. When she first started doing this, it wasn’t so funny. There were days when Tobin hated herself for being this way and feeling she constantly had to be making sure everything was perfect. Jen helped her immensely, her vigilance working with Tobin to accept it and move towards minimizing her anxiety. Kate was shocked when Tobin showed her the prescription for Prozac. 

Tobin was diligent in working to beat her issues, even if it meant taking medications. As Kate was going through her first trimester and often not feeling very well, her patience would wear thin sometimes, snapping at Tobin and being overly emotional. Tobin stayed patient and understanding, even as she would disinfect the bathroom each morning after Kate was vomiting. 

Jen slowly took Tobin off the meds as Tobin improved with her anxiety. These past few weeks have been wonderful, Kate feels she has her wife back. Tobin doesn’t get as stressed and anxious as much now when something is out of place. She’s been going to the gym for preseason conditioning by herself mostly now. She meets up with a bunch of her teammates and they usually do lunch after together after. Things are slowly getting back to normal. 

“This was a healthy organizing project.” Tobin declares, glancing at Kate’s water cup that is sitting next to the coaster. She ignores it. Kate does intentionally do things like that to help Tobin realize not everything has to be perfect. Not all of the time, but enough that she’s starting to relax more and not have to be busy cleaning or moving things around all of the time. 

“It’s true.” Kate admits, “Many of our books are by the same author. They were scattered everywhere on the shelves.” 

Jen laughs. “You two are ridiculous!” 

Kate and Tobin grin at each other. “We know.” They say in unison. 

“So,” Jen says, taking a sip of her drink, “when is the big announcement?” She’s talking about the baby announcement. Only a few close friends and family in Tobin and Kate’s life know about the pregnancy. 

“Next week,” Kate grins. Jen smiles back at them. 

 

 

“You ready for this?” Kate asks her wife. They’ve just completed their phone calls to tell their families and close friends letting them know they are expecting. Now, Tobin is holding her phone, a photo ready to upload on Instagram, waiting to hit the button to publish it. 

Tobin smiles at her, leaning over to kiss her. “I’ve been waiting my whole life to do this.” She uploads the photo and message. 

“You know everyone is going to ask about the sex of the baby and names, right?” Kate grins. 

“Yep,” Tobin smiles, “we should probably talk about names ourselves, huh?” 

“Ah,” Kate shrugs, “whenever.” 

“Oh,” Tobin says, scooting over so she’s facing Kate, “I had an idea for the baby’s room.” 

“We are not painting it green like a soccer pitch.” Kate states, smiling at her. 

Tobin laughs, “Well, okay,” she shrugs, “No, like, seriously, you know how we’ve been wondering what guest room to convert?” Kate nods. “What if we use the one right across from our room and somehow put a door that goes into our hallway? That way we can leave it open and get there without having to go all the way around.”

Kate thinks about it for a minute and nods. “I think that could be easily done. We could do that ourselves.” 

“Really?” Tobin asks, surprised. 

“You forget I’m the daughter of a carpenter first, contractor second.” Kate smiles. 

“Oh yeah,” Tobin smiles, kissing her softly, “I forget how handy you are.” 

Kate moves her hand to the back of Tobin’s neck, pulling her in, “I’ll show you just how good I am with my hands.” She leans in and kisses her deeply. 

“We’re gonna have a baby,” Tobin murmurs before her lips find Kate’s. 

“We’re gonna be Moms,” Kate replies, kissing her again. 

“We’re gonna be okay,” Tobin says softly, rising from the couch, taking Kate’s hand and leading her to the bedroom. 

Fini

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, this is it. 
> 
> I've got to admit that I'm not pleased with how this turned out. It wasn't the up to the bar I had set for myself. What started out as a second installment turned into a too quick, slam bam something happens to Tobin type of thing I am not happy with. I'm not even sure if I'll leave this up or just take it down. 
> 
> For those of you who've stuck with this, I thank you. I apologize that it's not quite up to the quality I've tried to put our previously. I've got some personal stuff going on which may have indirectly led to how this story progressed so negatively. Sorry about that. 
> 
> Your kudos and comments are always appreciated- 
> 
> Until next time-   
> MT


End file.
